The Prettiest Thing (M/L, MATURE) AN 5/2 [WIP]

[DreamerLaure]

Author’s Note: *falls down* Is this really my little story; thanks guys!

ken_r I’m glad you like it
Katydid Lol! He is acting selfish; I hope he’ll come to his senses
Begonia9508 Oh no, you have to watch Titanic, Eve, I know you’d like it And, lol in my story Max and Liz don’t have rabbit eyes; come on, which guy’d want to kiss you if you looked like that
Clueless Shh, get away from over my shoulder! *swats Clueless* Ah, that’s better *whew* I thought you’d stolen a peek
Alizaleven Thanks
TheAntarianKing Lol, yeah, it’s very nice that they did
Flamehair Lol, I sure did
Dreamer<3 Glad you loved it
Loveisforever Lol
Alien614 Thanks welcome back

I hope you enjoy the surprise

Chapter 11

“Can you take it off yet?” she sighed, and when he didn’t answer right away, she slipped her hand under her ponytail, her fingers brushing the knot he had fastened there.

He was rearranging a branch of a neighboring tree so it angled up instead of down when she asked him. When he shook it, a spray of snow fell from it, but at least it was no longer blocking the path. Satisfied with how easy it would be to get through, Max turned around to coax Liz to put up with the rest of his surprise.

Her cheeks heated up when she felt him looking at her; she was caught red-handed, and she smiled weakly at him. Even though she couldn’t see him she knew where he was in relation to her, and she felt him coming closer to her instead of hearing his footsteps.

He came behind her quickly, and she felt his hand cover hers. She stopped pulling and he brought her hands away from the knot. He didn’t let go of her hand and he lowered his head to her ear, tickling the fine hairs on her cheek when he said, “Not yet.”

Max moved away quickly, and in one fluid motion, he was on the other side of her, holding her hand and leading her forward. It was good that he was doing that because Max had been affecting her so much that morning that it was possible that her legs wouldn’t move even if she willed them to.

He would take one step forward knowing she would follow, her fingers laced in his. Her ears picked up nearly every sound now ever since he had covered her eyes, and the world became louder than she had known it could be. The snapping of the twigs their feet stepped on, the skittering of a squirrel from one tree to another as he heard them coming, the whistle of the wind through the hollow spaces in the trees, and the crunch of the snow covered leaves as Max stepped over them all kept her anchored.

“So, how’s Jennifer?” he asked.

She hesitated, “She’s alright.” Liz thought back to that morning how she had woken up thinking she would be the first one up only to find Jennifer’s bed empty, its bedspread rumpled, and the wastebasket she had placed by it the night before gone.

Liz had dressed quickly and peaceably that morning. Jennifer wasn’t talking on the phone loudly while she was trying to choose her clothes or study a little more, and the signs of her night before weren’t all over the room. Instead the room was tidier in the morning and then she didn’t run into Jennifer all throughout her routine of waking up, getting dressed, calling Max and talking for fifteen minutes before agreeing to meet at the café, and getting her coat on and heading out.

It didn’t mean she wasn’t slightly worried. She wanted to chalk it up to the barrier they had between them, but she knew not trying wasn’t going to help either.

She smiled though and said, “I think she’s doing better.”

“You two don’t get along, huh?” he asked.

She laughed as soon as he said this, “No, not at all,” and she jibed, “Can you tell?”

He laughed too, “I can tell. I think I haven’t heard you say one thing you really like about her.”

“We’re just…” she squeezed his hand, the signal they had made earlier in the morning when one of them wanted the other to stop, “different.”

“I know,” he said softer, and his voice was not as teasing as before. He added, “Roommates are hard to deal with.”

“That’s true; you’re lucky you don’t have one,” she said, but as perceptive as Liz was she didn’t register how much that did affect him. Not having one might have all of the pluses Liz suspected there was, but then she didn’t see the other side of it. As annoying and frustrating as that person might be, at the end of a long day of tough classes, spending time around friends you didn’t really know yet, and trying your best to stay upbeat, it was still nice to come back and see someone.

And Max couldn’t help but think sometimes he still wanted and craved everything he had left behind six months before. He wasn’t supposed to; coming here was meant to be a fresh start, but still, he’d get just as homesick as Liz did.

She was behind him again, her hand in his, and he was leading the way through the small cluster of trees near the south side of the campus. He could hear her breathing softly, and he told her, “We’re almost there.”

“Okay,” she said, and it comforted her to know that. It also added an ounce to the anticipation that had been building all morning.

After a moment, he said, “I’m sorry this is taking so long.”

She heard the insecurity and vulnerability in his voice, and she pressed his hand, making him stop walking. She was only two steps apart from him, but Liz stepped closer and she tilted her head up so it would be like she were looking into his eyes, “No, don’t apologize. I’m really looking forward to his; thank you.”

She hoped he was smiling, and she wasn’t certain if her words had any impact until a few seconds later, she heard him step closer to her. She heard him exhale as if he was throwing aside a big weight. Lately when they were as close as they were now, she noticed that he would breathe out right before continuing, releasing whatever was tight inside of him. She wanted to know what it was that was holding back, but she didn’t press.

“You don’t even know what it is yet,” he reminded her.

A smile danced across her lips as soon as he said that, “Well, I know it has to be something really good. You wouldn’t go to all this trouble if it weren’t.”

“That’s partly true,” he said. He held her hand again and she took a step forward after him.

Her question came a few steps later, “Which part’s not true? Is it not a good surprise?” she added.

He laughed because he had known that question was coming. He stopped again to face her and he saw her smiling, even though she couldn’t see him. Liz was getting confident in the knowledge that he was looking back at her. She could feel it, and she was starting to expect it.

He stopped again and turned to face her, “It wasn’t any trouble.”

She blushed and nodded, and when he started walking again, this time she went beside him.

* * * * *

They came up to a pond, or at least that’s what it sounded like to Liz. She heard the rushing of cool water and the birds chirping on either side of them. It was early in the spring, and a snowfall a few days before dusted the sprouting leaves. Max slowed his steps, and he held both of her hands when he helped her climb one of the rocks by the bridge.

“Thanks,” she said once he had helped her get over it.

“We’re almost there,” he promised.

“Do we have to cut through anymore trees?” she teased.

“Just one more after the bridge,” he said.

The planks on the bridge were wet and slippery, so he steadied their progress by going first and letting her follow his steps. He still had her hand in his as they went, and thought it was a rickety bridge, Liz felt very safe.

Once they were over the bridge, they continued walking and they went through another small grouping of trees before Max stopped. He let go of her hand once she was beside him. She stopped too, and she said, “What? Did we reach?”

“Yeah,” he said, and he saw her smile grow a few more inches.

He walked around her, and placed his hands on either side of her head. His fingers fumbled with one of the knots for a moment, but then it suddenly fell apart in his hands, and he took the blindfold away from her eyes.

The first things that punctuated the darkness she was used to from the walk over were little white pinpoints. She blinked twice, and the dots converged and spread, giving her a much better sight.

He had found one of the smaller views of the lake near the back of the university, and Liz was so impressed with the view of it that she let go of his hand and started walking towards it, her eyes bright with excitement.

“This is so great,” she enthused.

“You like it?” he asked, his voice uncertain, and when she turned around to look at him and he saw her huge smile, his heart sped up a little.

She came over to him, and taking his hand, she told him, “I love it.”

And that was all the encouragement he needed for he smiled, and lead her over to the boat bobbing by the dock.

“I found this in one of the boating houses and I asked the crew captain if he’d mind if I took it out,” he told her, and she smiled to let him know she didn’t mind the babbling he was doing right now. “And of course he looked at me like I was crazy; who would take a boat out on the river during the winter.”

“But it’s nearly March,” she pointed out.

“That’s what I said,” and they shared a smile again, “He didn’t mind though and he let me have it for the afternoon.”

She smiled, “The entire afternoon?”

“Yeah, it’s all ours.” They had been walking as they were talking and now they were standing on the dock, Liz stepped back and he bent to untie it from the dock.

He stepped into the boat, and he turned to face her, extending his palm out for her to grasp.

She took it and he helped her step in, being sure there was no way for her to slip on her way in. She sat in the back of the boat while he made sure the oars were set. Then Max moved so he was sitting directly across from her, “Ready?”

Her eyes brightened, “Of course,” and Max nodded before he took the first of several strokes with the oars.

* * * * *

In the thick of the night, they crept up one of the back staircases of Keller House. With each step that he took, she whispered, “Shh,” and he would hold her hand tighter in response. They climbed up together, their steps cautious and grouped together – they were so careful not to make any noise.

Though many people were still out of bed in the dorm and it wouldn’t be as if they were waking anyone up, neither Max nor Liz wanted to run into anyone.

They had walked back from the lake as quickly as possible, and when they passed the first floor of Keller House, they saw the lights were on in the common room and they could hear the music playing.

Now he stood by the door that separated the staircase from the hallway his room was in, blocking the light, and she was in his shadow temporarily. Her hair was down to the middle of her back, the wet curls sticking to her thin shirt. She shivered under his shadow, and when he looked over at her, she smiled self-deprecatingly.

“I’m okay,” she reassured him.

He still took off his jacket though and gave it to her, and she didn’t bother to puzzle over why hers was still wet when his wasn’t. Instead, she reveled in the warmth it gave her, and she looked up at him and smiled, “Thanks.”

He pushed the door carefully, letting the light from the hallway pool into the darkened staircase slowly. Once it was open, he stepped through and she followed.

Their jeans and shoes sloshed with each step they took, and once they were in front of the door, Max slipped his hand into his back pocket and got out his key. He opened the door for her and let her go inside first, and he followed, closing the door as carefully as he could, making as little sound as possible.

Of course, he hadn’t intended for the boat to capsize, but it had, and here they were. He was about to flick on the light, which had always been his first impulse whenever he walked into a dark room, but he didn’t this time. When he turned around and saw her standing in front of the moonlight that streamed out of his window, he lost his coherence for a second.

The moment was lost though when she turned to meet his gaze head on and he saw she was still shivering. He blushed, though she couldn’t see it, and he turned away from her and grabbed the blanket he had on the top of his dresser and gave it to her. For a moment, something flickered in her eyes too, but his reaction to her gaze had broken the moment for her too.

He said, “Here,” and he handed it to her, “I’ll go get something to eat while you change.”

She nodded, and she was holding the fringe of the blanket under her chin when he turned. She said softly, “Okay.”

[DreamerLaure]

Author's Note: Thanks for the feedback

EVE Lol Thanks
Ken You're right - ordinary things can have be magical too
Mezz
Flamehair
Clueless Thanks
Natalie36
Alien614 I am and yes it's a very good thing Max has a single!
Lurkers I've noticed the view count is very high I hope you're enjoying

Chapter 12

Max slipped in and out of the common room downstairs as quickly as he could. There was a room a little off to the side from it with steps that lead down to the set of washing machines in the basement as well as a couple of vending machines. He decided to try two cans of soda and one of the extra large bags of Doritos from two of the machines.

It didn’t seem like much; the meal he was assembling right now didn’t match how much he cared for her, but it was late at night, and right now, something simple could do the trick. Besides, he and Liz had shared a lunch in the boat while they were over the lake earlier that afternoon.

He set a picnic basket in the boat that morning and she had been the one to discover it before he could really surprise her with it.

“What’s that?” she pointed to the straw basket peeking out from the bench he was sitting on, and he had frowned and then blushed; of course she had found it.

“It’s a little lunch,” he said, casually, trying to brush it off, but she had persisted.

“No, there’s something in there,” she said, smiling.

And he had given in…one look into her smiling brown eyes and suddenly whatever he had planned wasn’t worth it. He grinned, “Yeah, there is,” and he brought the basket out so she could see it properly.

It turned out she was just as happy to see it as she might have been had he presented it to her as a surprise. And it also happened to be perfect timing too because it was around when they were out in the middle of the lake that she discovered the basket, and it felt like the right place to stop.

The boat swayed over the lake water gently, and Max had control over the balance of the boat for most of the afternoon. He knew how to distribute the weight evenly and he had sat directly across from Liz with that in mind. The afternoon had been nice too, up until the boat tipped over. Even though the weather was still nippy, Max and Liz both felt like they were glowing inside out.

All it could take was one look in the other’s direction or the spark ignited each time their eyes held the other’s and they were instantly warmed. This didn’t feel like falling for someone by chance or a spring induced fever.

Max felt himself getting lost every time he looked into her eyes for there was so much that he wanted to do for her to make her happy. His only intention so far had been for her to be happy, and admittedly, he had wanted to be the one to make that happen.

It had affected him when he used to see her in the café. She had seemed sad and unhappy, but now when he looked at her, he saw something else entirely different in her eyes. She was happy now, and technically, everything he’d ever wanted for her had been met.

So why couldn’t he let go before he would hurt her? He’d been thinking that a lot recently: what if once he opened up to her, she shrank away from him? The only thing he didn’t want more than for that to happen was to let thinking about that prevent him from keeping her happy.

And when she had leaned forward to kiss his cheek, he had stayed still. She brushed her lips on his cheek and she even had her small hand curled around his neck while she did. She pulled away from him slowly, and he didn’t know what exactly had compelled him to make her stop. Her eyes had met his though and they had come back together like they were the night before.

As he was kissing her, she wrapped her arms around his waist just for the sake of being closer. It occurred to him then how well she fit into him, and how kissing her felt like the most natural thing he’d done in a while.

He wasn’t worried about the weight distribution in the boat either as he was kissing her. In fact, all logical thoughts that would have been first on his mind weren’t, and he was instead just as lost in the kiss as she was.

She was on the same side of the boat as he was, and her knee was pressed down on the seat he was sitting on. When they broke apart, he regained feeling for everything outside of Liz and he felt the boat tipping. He held her hand firmly, and he didn’t let go while they were under or as they got back up. Instead, he used his free hand to bring them back up to the surface.

And that’s what had brought them here. The afternoon hadn’t ended how he wanted it to, but as he was walking back to the dorm with two cans of soda and a bag of chips in hand, he didn’t feel regretful at all.

He bought some refreshments from the vending machine in the room near the common room downstairs. Again, since he wasn’t keen on running into too many people, he had slipped in and out as quickly as possible. A few of the guys called out to him when his back was to them and he was almost home free so Max just waved to them and kept going.

He opened his door and went inside, balancing the things, he was carrying when he closed the door before he turned to face her and really see her. She was sitting now on the chair by the window, combing her fingers through her damp hair. As far as she could tell, Max didn’t have any of the combs and brushes she needed, so she decided to dry her hair without that extra step. She’d made a conscious decision to not turn on the lights too, and then the only light was the moonlight streaming in through the curtains.

Though her back was to him when he poked his head in, she glanced over her shoulder when she heard him. He brushed aside the feeling looking at her produced and he focused on the fact that she was still shivering, “Are you still cold?” he asked. Even in the soft light from the moon, he could see her clearly.

“Not so much anymore,” she said, and she shrugged a part of the blanket off her shoulders to reveal her tank top underneath. She was shivering, but it wasn’t from the recent dip in the lake; Max’s gaze penetrated her past where just looking would have ended.

He handed her one of the Pepsis, and he split open the bag of chips, and offered it to her first. She reached in and took up one slice and then another, munching quietly.

“You were hungry?” he asked.

She was about to say that she wasn’t when his stomach chose that moment to reveal his hunger too, and she smiled, “I’m guessing you were too.”

After a thoughtful moment filled only by the sounds of the both of them eating and popping open the cans of their soda, Max interjected, “This didn’t turn out as planned,” he trailed off, and he felt his own breath caught suddenly in his throat when he looked into her eyes. However, he didn’t see the disappointment he had expected.

“Sorry?” she saw the woeful gaze he had, but she was almost just as determined for him to not feel insecure. She looked at him, her eyes shining, “The only thing you should be sorry for is trying to do two things at once.”

Max looked up when she said that, and he blushed when he got the double meaning to her words. He smiled, and then started laughing along with her. It felt good to feel normal, and to look into the eyes of the girl he had a crush on and just laugh. It could really be that simple.

“But other than that,” she met his eyes again, a twinkle in them that sparkled, “This afternoon was perfect.”

He beamed when she said that and he was so pleased that his own smile matched hers.

They ate the rest of the chips and downed the rest of their drinks without saying much. Once or twice, their hands would brush as they reached into the bag at the same time, or when she playfully threw a chip at him that prompted him to throw one back at her, and miss of course, so much that an hour had passed when they were done.

“You want to watch something?” Max asked, gesturing at the television.

Liz gazed at it for a second, longingly almost, before she smiled ruefully, “No.”

He smiled too, “I guess you’re worn out from the movie marathon, right?”

“I am,” she admitted with a smile.

Max stood up and he threw away the remains of their post-dinner. He was about to reach for one of the wall switch to turn on the light when Liz interrupted him. She mentally rehearsed what she was about to ask Max for a few seconds and without preamble, she went with what sounded the most direct. “Max, would you mind if I stayed here tonight?”

She looked at him sidelong when she said that and she took his silence for him saying no. She turned to look at him and she found him standing, a sleeping blanket in his hands. He had it stored under his bed and Max stretched it out on the floor.

“I’ll take the floor,” he offered.

“You don’t have to; I could take the floor…”

“It’s okay,” he smiled. He went over to one of the dressers, got another blanket, and set it down on the bed. Then he sat on the floor and started taking off his shoes.

Liz bunched the blanket she had around her earlier to her chest and she went over to his bed. Max stretched out on the floor as she settled down on his bed. She turned onto her side so that she was somewhat facing him and she said, “Good night.”

A little while after, she whispered, “Max?”

“Hmm,” he sighed.

“It was a really good surprise,” and she reached her hand over the side of the bed to hold his.

* * * * *

“So you stayed the night?” Nicole asked incredulously. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing and when she saw Liz’s blush, which was an answer enough for her. She started pacing in front of Liz, walking from side to side. “And what did you guys do?”

“Nicole!” Liz exclaimed, “It was totally innocent.”

“Well you stayed the night, right?”

“Yes, I stayed the night sleeping on his bed and he was one foot away from me on the floor sleeping on the floor.”

“Oh,” Nicole said and she stopped walking around. Liz couldn’t hide her smile when she heard her obvious disappointment.

Nicole sat down on her bed and studied Liz carefully. “You’ve got it bad,” she stated, and Liz frowned, “No, not completely.”

She laughed. “It’s either you have it or you don’t…”

“Then,” Liz paused as she remembered that morning. He woke up after she did but she had taken a moment to lean over the side of her bed and observe him while he was sleeping. He looked so much at peace that she didn’t want to wake him up, but when he did, his eyes fluttered open and met hers. That’s probably what had surprised her the most; he hadn’t been taken aback that she had been openly watching him. He even seemed to like that she was watching him. He had a bemused expression on his face when he said, “Morning,” and smiling she’d said too, “Morning.”

Liz sighed and collapsed onto Nicole’s bedspread, “I have it bad.”

Nicole laughed softly, and she lay back too so she was side to side with Liz, “I could have told you that a long time ago.”

“He’s a good guy.”

“Yeah, he is,” Liz agreed. She closed her eyes, and a frown marred her face.

“What’s wrong though,” Nicole asked because she could tell Liz had something else on her mind.

“It’s like this push and pull between us though.”

Nicole turned her head to see her explain, “Yeah? What do you mean?”

Liz smiled, “Well, it’s like we’ll take one step forward and then without either of us noticing, we take half a step back.”

“Only half?” Nicole joked. Liz threw her a glare and she held up her hands, “Okay, elaborate please,” she added and she made an open gesture with her hands in the air.

“So this morning, we got up,” Liz started and she deliberately left out how when she woke up, seeing him inches away made her smile already. “And then we went to the café for breakfast.” She smiled as she remembered that, “and we kissed.”

“Yeah?” Nicole asked. “You guys are getting practice at this.”

“Then, we had one of those moments again. Whenever we get close, it’s like he’s taking a moment to think about something and then I am too, and we end up being so lost in thought that we’ve lost each other by the time we get back.”

“I’m sure it’s just getting used to each other,” Nicole said. “And obviously everything won’t come together right away, but you guys really have something special.”

Liz winced when Nicole said special, but she was smiling too, “Special, huh?”

“I see the way he looks at you, and I’m not even mentioning how you look at him.”

Liz nodded. “I’m sure that in time there won’t be those moments,” Nicole reassured her. “Relationships take time to build.”

“Yeah,” Liz said, agreeing. She nervously sat up because she realized she had said something else Nicole might notice.

“I have to get to class.”

“Yeah, me too,” Nicole agreed. She sat up too, and she got up off the bed and straightened the bedspread. Her back was to Liz and Liz was already putting her shoulder bag on. Just as she thought she was home free, Nicole interrupted, “Are you going to tell me later what you think about?”

Liz gave her a frown, and Nicole continued, “During your moments?”

Nicole was looking at her square in the eyes, but Liz faltered first and broke eye contact. She said quietly, “Soon.”

[DreamerLaure]

Author's Note: This part was hard to write, but I hope it gives you some answers. Again, thank you so much for the feedback - it's brought a smile to my face every day I read it Let me know if you like this part. Okay, I'm done Now I've got to go pack. If I have internet access I'll be back later to edit, and if not, I'll see you in April. Enjoy!

* * * *
Chapter 13

1 Month Later

“Max,” she said, her words swallowed into his own mouth so that he barely heard her. He did realize though that she wasn’t kissing him back and heady with the effect of kissing her, he pulled himself away from her slowly and smiled. “Yes.” He kissed her lips again, and he drifted from her lips to her cheek to the skin that was framed by her sideburns to the underside of her chin and lower.

She smiled and tilted her head back as he moved to her neck. “Where did you say we were going tomorrow?” she ventured tentatively.

She could feel his mouth move as he smiled against her neck. “I said it was a surprise. It’s a really nice place though, you’ll like it.”

“I was just wondering what I should wear,” she said slowly, and he stopped for a second. “It’s a nice place,” he told her.

“Any preference?” she asked with a smile. She really wanted to know what he liked.

“I really like the blue skirt,” he said, and she smiled even more as she remembered the first time she wore it. It was the night after Valentine’s Day and surprisingly, the campus had been relatively calm for the day. There were couples here and there that popped up in the weeks and days surrounding it, but overall it was a casual day on campus. Max and Liz had agreed to take it casually too and he took her to dinner on the 15th, the day after. She had been just as much at odds on what to wear then as she was tonight, and she finally settled on a three quarter sleeve light blue sweater with a navy knee length skirt with a split on one side.

When she opened her dorm room, Max was looking down, for whatever reason and she thought for a second that he wasn’t feeling the same way she was about the night. However, when he heard the door open he looked up and his eyes took in her appearance appreciatively and he managed, “You look great, Liz,” which had only prompted Liz to blush.

And later that night, when he took her home, she fingered her key in her hands while they were looped around his back in the tight embrace he held her in as he kissed her good night. Yeah, Max really did like that skirt.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head more to the right so he could have as much access to her neck as he wanted, which of course he took. He kissed a trail down her neck and he even reached the small curve of her shoulders that peeked out of the wide collar shirt she was wearing. What he was doing was slowly breaking every bit of will power she had. Liz said, “Maybe I’ll wear it.”

He stopped suddenly and she opened her eyes as he pulled away. One of his arms was wrapped around her, sandwiched between her waist and the bed. If her back pressing into his forearm hurt or if her weight was numbing him, Max wouldn’t have cared. All he was thinking about right then as he looked down at her was how much he wanted to resume. But he would only do so if she wanted to, and he raised his other arm to trace his finger along the side of her jaw. “Maybe’s a good answer,” he said softly.

“Yes,” she said, and she saw the intensity in his eyes, how much he wanted to continue. Liz reached up to curl her hand around his neck and she pressed her lips to his.

* * * * *

(8 months earlier)

“And over here we have the living room,” he whispered into her hair and it made her shiver.

She smiled, and her eyes sparkled with merriment when she faced him and said, “Alex, I’ve been to your house before. I don’t need a tour.”

He nodded. “I know, but you’ve never seen it at night.”

She laughed, and she found his arms around her waist a moment later. He held her close to him, with her back pressed against his chest, and he swayed with her. There wasn’t any music playing and even though they had left the dance an hour earlier, they still wanted to dance. She was wearing heels, but he still towered over her and taking advantage of where she was and how she was, she nestled her head under his and placed her cheek on his chest. His suit felt crinkly and stiff, and she pulled back from for a second, “Is this a new suit?” she asked, and she fingered the lapel.

“Yeah, I bought it for tonight,” he smiled.

She met his eyes, “You did?”

He nodded and his smile widened as if he were remembering something. She saw and she pulled on his suit jacket, “What?”

“I’m just remembering,” he looked down at her. “My Dad took me to the store back in December,” he started.

“December?” she whispered, but he didn’t hear her.

“And he really took it as a father son bonding thing. I mean he wanted me to have a nice suit. We went all over town and we hit at least seven stores. We finally decided on one, one that we both liked and so the Whitman suit was born,” he laughed softly. Earlier that night she had affectionately named his suit the Whitman suit because it fit him so perfectly, but now that she was even closer to him than she had been in the limousine and on the dance floor, she could see how true that was. Alex’s shoulders, which normally looked small to her, were striking now, and tonight he even looked handsome.

“Did you know my parents went to the prom together too?” he asked, and this time he looked directly into her eyes.

She swallowed hard, “No, I didn’t.”

“He said it was a really special night for them and he wanted me to have the same thing too. Funny thing is prom’s always just been prom to me, you know?”

She nodded stiffly, but she didn’t directly respond; she was lost in her own thoughts.

He spun her around gently and then she found herself back in his arms again but facing him this time.

“Liz?” he asked. Her tears were sparkling now in the dim room and he saw it. He held her face in his hands and he looked straight into her eyes. “Lizzie,” he went back to his nickname for her. “Lizzie, what’s wrong?”

She breathed in and it helped to slow down the speed of her heart beating in her chest but it didn’t stop the tears that were falling now. He ran his thumb over her cheeks, brushing away her tears, and he pressed his forehead to hers. For a few seconds they breathed together, her breaths falling into the same tempo as his and she opened her eyes. Alex was looking into hers intently and she felt so happy he was there. For a second she forgot that this would probably mean the world to him. Why else would he buy a prom suit five months before the night of it? She forgot that last month they had agreed to break up because they were going to separate schools after all.

That hadn’t been the only reason looking back. She and Alex had been nice together, but that had been it. She didn’t feel her heart swell when she saw him coming and they hadn’t done many things other than kissing. And even that wasn't heated; it had just happened.

And Liz also forgot the agreement they made when she asked him to take her to her prom. They had agreed to only go as friends and that’s what they did that night. He danced with her during the fast songs and held her arms length away during the slow songs.

So she threw all of that out of the window and decided that tonight could at least be worth it. It would mean so much to him; it had meant so much to him. She kept her eyes on his as she kissed his lips and she saw a mixture of shock and then something like passion in his as the kiss deepened.

He stumbled back with her to the couch and they never broke apart as they lowered together onto the couch.

* * * * *

This felt different. It might not have been fair to compare before, but she couldn’t help doing it. Things between Max and her were getting more and more intense and she wasn’t sure how much longer it would be before she was in the same situation as last year.

She continued to kiss him, and she tangled her legs with his. She may have regretted the first time, but something told her she might not this time when something new was starting up. As they deepened the kiss, Liz closed her eyes again and she wished things could stay just as they were right now. She didn’t mind this, but she wasn’t sure what she would do if faced with the same thing she had been last year with Alex. She wanted to believe it would be different; after all, it was Max.

He moved away from her lips again and when he went back to her neck, she moved automatically. It was so easy to know how to move with him. She closed her eyes again and when she did, she could swear she saw the stars.

[DreamerLaure]

* * * * *
// = flashes
* * * * *

Chapter 14

Liz blinked rapidly, trying to get the image of the stars out of her head because surely she must be dreaming. You don’t see stars while you’re kissing, no matter how good it gets.

Still she had to admit that where she was, nestled in Max’s embrace as he kissed her neck, was a great place to be. When she closed her eyes, she was back to seeing stars again, and this time it lasted longer.

The first sensation that she could claim was that she was inside of something, something moving very quickly. Outside, smaller white stars zoomed by. In front of them was a bright red planetary ring that held a bright white star in its center, and it grew wider as they headed towards the center recklessly.

The stars she was flying through fell apart when the feel of Max’s lips on hers brought her back to the present with startling precision. She exhaled sharply and Max felt her pull away from him.

She opened her eyes when he moved off her and she sat up from her waist. “Liz?” His presence was comforting, but she didn’t answer right away because she was trying to regroup her senses.

One minute she was in the stars and then she was back with Max. It puzzled her, but then she also realized she’d never been so relieved to leave something behind. Whatever that was had scared her a little.

He asked gently, “What’s wrong?”

He looked at her uncertainly, but she wanted to put aside what she had seen, “It was nothing.”

She glanced at Max. His cheeks were flushed, his hair was mussed, and she knew that while he was kissing her neck, she had rumpled his shirt. She smiled when he watched her slowly lick her lips. He watched her tongue move from one corner of her lips to the other before he moved in to her and took her tongue in his mouth.

She kissed him softly at first then feverishly, picking up from where they had left off. Liz put one of her hands down on the sheets a little behind her back and she bent her elbow as she lay down. Her other hand tugged on his shirt collar as she went down so that not only his want to keep his lips on hers motivated him to follow her.

Then it happened again, when she was least expecting it. His hand was reaching up her shirt, and she felt her chest heat up as she realized what he was doing. Just as his hand was moving towards her back to unhook her clasp, she lost focus again.


//There were four recesses glowing from where they were lodged in the cave wall. There was a shiny filmy membrane over each recess and four faces were behind it.

A hand pushed out of one timidly, and though it did penetrate the membrane, the filmy substance stayed glued to the hand.

Once the hand was out, one knee poked out too and stretched out in the air before planting itself onto the cave floor.

The foot clawed for the ground uncertainly and the sticky layer it accumulated, as it broke free, perhaps protected it from the rocks that could cut into the skin.

Next, the head broke free, coming out as a head of brown hair coated with slime. The body that freed itself had the membrane all over it; it became a second skin.

The hallways of West Roswell were crowded in between classes but after a certain time, the kids did move on to their next class. And that’s what he was doing, or that’s what he was supposed to be doing. He was headed towards Algebra and he was moving down the hallway quickly.

That’s when he saw her.

She was laughing with her friends and he could see the sparkle in her eyes.

She looked so beautiful, and he stared at her as he passed her.

His eyes never left the face of his crush but as much as he wished she would, she never once looked his way.

He stared though, and he watched her, even at the risk of bumping into another student.

He decided right then that what he liked most about Liz Parker was the way her smile was like a part of who she was; she wore it like a second skin. //


Liz opened her eyes when the last vision melted away and she dodged Max’s next kiss by turning her face to look at the clock, expressing a sudden interest in what time it was.

“Time flies,” she smiled, and she fingered the top buttons of his shirt as she met his eyes, “I need to start getting ready.”

He was hovering over her and he moved away slowly when she said this so she could leave.

He made reservations at an Italian restaurant for them that night. She knew about the dinner and she had been looking forward to it and everything for the past week, but back then she hadn’t been falling ill.

It isn’t normal to see stars, she thought to herself, or to conjure up things that never happened. It was too fantastical to be true, but then she could also remember that the red flannel shirt with the white tank top from the last scene had been one of her favorite outfit combinations back in the ninth grade, and also that bracelet on her wrist was the one she lost only a few weeks before the start of junior year during the summer.

Those things were tangible, and that made part of what she saw true, but it didn’t explain her first or second vision, if it could even be called that.

She raked her fingers through her hair exasperatedly, and scooted over to the edge of the bed.

“I’ll see you tonight, Liz,” he said.

She nodded as she went to the door but she didn’t look back at him or even kiss him before she left. She was lost in what she was feeling.

Max fell back on his bed and closed his eyes. That was so intense. He’d never felt that way before, and because of the agreement he, Michael, and Isabel had come to during high school, he had shied away from dating any girls. So he truly felt as if everything was new with Liz. It wasn’t just kissing her because it even included the ache he got when he saw her go.

He didn’t want to let her go tonight either, but he sensed she needed it. At least the scent of her hair was still in his room and Max breathed in deep…. it wasn’t enough though. He felt as if things were getting too intense.

It bothered, and even frustrated him that she didn't know everything about him, like what he was, and that was only accompanied by the fear that she wouldn't feel the same about him once she knew.

Once Liz was out of his room, she walked slowly and unsteadily towards the staircase. Whatever resolve she’d gathered to walk out of his room when she was feeling like jelly on the inside, fell away once she left.

She leaned against the wall, and stilled herself for a minute; her heart was racing. “What the hell is happening to me?” she wondered aloud.

She thought sleeping might do her some good, but whatever wishes Liz had for an escape to her dreams to provide her didn’t work because she woke up two hours later even more disoriented. Her dreams were filled with thoughts of Max when her one goal while she slept was to not think about him.

She didn’t know what was happening to her; the strange visions that came to her that afternoon, and then this desire to have more of him…a smile danced across her lips when that thought entered her mind and she zipped up her skirt and turned to face herself in the mirror. The blush of her reflection said it all; any desires that had to do with Max lately were justified.

He made her feel beautiful. It was in the way he kissed her two mornings ago in the quad when so many other people were around. He came into her line of sight and she had started smiling. Then he had leaned in and brushed his lips across hers and Nicole had been the only one out of the other three girls that were seated there with Liz on the grass to not stare impolitely. Nicole had slipped her a little smile and winked at Max as he sat down beside Liz. She blushed when she saw how obvious her friend was being but to her surprise, Nicole didn’t put off Max. He smiled at her and then gave all of his attention to Liz.

Then there was the party two weekends ago that she hadn’t wanted to go to. Liz hated these parties. They were just an excuse for half of the freshmen to get beer from the upperclassmen and act drunk or for girls to saunter out of the dorm like Jennifer had, in a skimpy skirt and high heels when it was still February.

But Max had stopped by her room a half an hour after Jennifer left, just as she was diving into some of her psych homework. Lately, she worked on psych a lot. Her science courses were interesting and challenging too, but she always found herself turning to psych the most. He saw her books and half teased her for a few minutes about staying in, and she laughingly told him that parties weren’t her thing.

Then Max said he was going so she might as well come too. Liz smiled at him, but said she knew she wasn’t going to have a good time so why bother, and his comeback was a promise that she would have a half decent time if she went with him.

She’d been so unsure if she wanted to go; wouldn’t it just be the same party with the same happenings even if Max were there with her? And she had hesitated until his suggestion, but it turned out her preconceptions about the party had been so wrong.

It was a good party. He danced with her, talked with her, introduced her to some of the people in his dorm, and led her back to her dorm later that night, capping off the night with a kiss before he left. And the whole night whenever he went away from her side to get a drink or to listen to a friend’s story, his eyes had found their way back to her.

She liked how he touched her, and how he made her feel when he kissed her or even so much as looked at her. She’d never felt like this before. It was scary, new, and exciting, and she wanted it to happen just as much as he did, but then thoughts of last year with Alex would come to her at inopportune times.

She would think about him when she really shouldn’t, and though in her heart she knew whatever they had had was clearly not love and more than over, the combination of what she had with him and this new and exciting relationship mixed her up sometimes.

This afternoon had been all of those things, and though what she had seen was confusing to her, she wanted to try to put it aside and enjoy tonight.

He hesitated for a second before he knocked, as he always did, but then the door swung open and there she was, snapping one of her hoop earrings shut as she grinned at him. “Hey.”

“How much time do we have?” she asked innocently, a perfectly valid question but he stared at her for a second. He’d been thinking about that a lot lately. How much time did he have before he should tell her? Was there a period for it, and if he did, would she be hurt?

He could have told her not long after their first kiss, right before everything got so intense, or even during one of the silences that filled the nights she slept over. He could have confided in her then.

He could have told her on a night that was special. Max treasured their Valentine date last month more than anything they’d done, and he could have told her then. He could have clasped her hand in his and told her in a moment of complete honesty.

When they were walking back to her dorm after the date and they passed under one of the arches, he could have pulled her over to the bench and sat her down before he told her. He had a feeling that for something like this, she’d need to be sitting down. He wanted to believe that he could sit beside her, and just tell her. He imagined sometimes that he could even just show her.

Besides not knowing what the time frame for something like this was, Max could never complete any of his imaginings of telling Liz what he was because she was the deciding factor. Would she run? Would she cry? Would she leave? He had no answers to any of those questions and that realization made him ache to find out.

She tilted her head to her shoulder, turning away from him, as she pushed in her other earring. She looked back into his eyes after she was done, and that’s when he remembered what she’d asked him. “The reservation’s not until eight,” he said, “but we have time.”

She nodded and he looked at the long brown strands that fell freely by her ears. He admired the blue skirt she was wearing and even the cut of her sweater all in the time it took for her to close the other earring and then finally his eyes met hers again. Liz reached for her pea coat and while she looked down as she buttoned it, Max tried to get a hold on his emotions.

He simply had to stop letting himself feel for her so much. He wanted to, but then it was at times like when he looked into her eyes or so much as heard her voice that he forgot everything else. He would have to try harder though.

Max had his hand tucked into one of his coat pockets and between his elbow and his waist was a small space. Liz slipped her hand into that space and she smiled up at him, and he held his breath; it was going to be a long night.

[DreamerLaure]

Thanks guys! I know you guys want me to update more, but once a week works out better for me. I have the next couple of parts written, and I'd like to hold on to them to keep perspective with the fic. I'll update more starting after Ch. 20, maybe, but definitely once my AP exams next month are over

Oh, I forgot to tell you this The Prettiest Thing was nominated in Roswell Heaven's Celestial Awards for CC/AU heat wave award - Best Romantic Scene in a CC/AU fic. I think it was Chapter 9 the Movie Scene, particularly, but I'm so happy you guys enjoyed that part

Lison
guelebebek
Flamehair
clueless
Eve
Timelord31

Chapter 15

Max is different tonight, she noticed. The maitre d’ was showing them to their table, and Max was holding her hand as he walked in front of her, two steps ahead. Her hand was lost in his, and it felt like the perfect fit. She couldn’t have asked for a better evening so far. After he came by her dorm to pick her up, they took her car to the restaurant. Max loved driving hers as much as she loved driving his and they traded driving the other all the time.

The car ride had left much to be imagined though, and admittedly, he hadn’t said much since he came to pick her up. She found something comforting in the silences though, as if just being around him were enough. Then he would reach over the stick shift and clasp hers in his, look at her when he thought she wasn’t looking, or play her favorite CD softly in the background, and she would be almost certain that nothing had changed. Deep down though, she felt as if something had changed since this afternoon and she couldn’t put her finger on what it was yet.

She glanced sidelong at him as he started to sit. Liz hoped they would talk more now that they were here. She placed her elbows on the table and inhaled peacefully. She surveyed the restaurant with her chin perched in her palms, and decided that she liked the mood. It was a small off campus restaurant, but if each place that anyone went to eat had a theme and the sandwich store two streets away was just for necessity, this restaurant was for intimacy.

There were tables and booths that weren’t too far apart from each other, yet each one seemed like its own island. The soft candle lighting from the wall scones and the ones on the tables gave the room a warm setting. She could hear hushed tones throughout the restaurant and Liz liked that she couldn’t distinguish what the people from across the room were saying to the servers by the bar.

Across the table from her, Max wasn’t admiring just the restaurant. Somewhere between walking with her arm under his down the hallway to when he opened the car door for her, he had decided on something simple, and it was something he was going to stick to. It can’t be that hard, Max muttered under his breath quietly. Max was looking over the menu as she was taking in the restaurant. The menu he had propped up on the table muffled most of his words, but Liz heard his voice anyway and she looked up at him with that smile, and his reserve crumbled; he smiled back.

When she looked away, Max was back to fretting again. She cleared her throat softly in an attempt to get his attention and it worked. Max looked back at her and she smiled. “What are you having?”

Max looked away quickly, glancing back down at the menu. He picked the first thing his eyes picked up, “I’m going with the Spaghetti marinara.”

He closed his menu and put it face down on the table. Liz didn’t notice his abrupt moves. She was enjoying the night and trying to make it last; she wanted to remember it, and while she was enjoying it, Max was only a few inches away from her worried about how to handle being around her.

“Oh that sounds so good,” she enthused, picturing it in her mind and imagining the first bite. You could never go wrong with a plate of spaghetti.

She mused more about what she wanted as she went through the main course selections. Ideally she should order something quick and easy to transfer from her plate to her mouth. She had gone through enough splatters when she was younger with the red sauces and she didn’t mind the taste of the white ones like the Bolognese. Her Dad was an excellent cook, and while he did cover some of the Crashdown shifts in the kitchen, Liz treasured when he was in their kitchen upstairs. He ventured into the glossy pictures of his cookbooks at least once a month, and Liz and her Mom relished being his testers.

Still, spaghetti was not her favorite. She never felt graceful as she was eating it. She glanced over her menu at Max again and felt reassured again, by who she was with and the circumstances by which she was here. Max wouldn’t care, she thought to herself, and to be perfectly honest, she didn’t either. There was more to this night than just spaghetti and once she decided that, she closed her menu. “I’ll go with that too.”

“Waiter,” Max called out suddenly, a little louder than necessary.

The waiter was only one table away and a simple hand gesture could have done the trick. Liz looked up at him, confused by the change in his voice, but she didn’t say anything about it outright.

Max shook his napkin out and the silverware that was inside of it clattered onto his plate noisily. He put the napkin down and pushed the knife and fork over to his glass, and he looked back up, but not at Liz. He looked to the waiter first and said, “We’re going to go with two orders of the Spaghetti with marinara sauce.”

He looked to her when the waiter asked if they wanted Parmesan cheese, realizing that it was one thing he didn’t know for sure about her. She asked for it, too, and Max looked back at the waiter, and waited for him to go before picking another safe spot to look. Her knee brushed his under the table and he pulled away so quickly that he rattled the table a little.

He’s nervous, she realized, but she couldn’t place her finger on why. What she did know was what she’d sensed all night, that it all started with whatever reason he had for not holding eye contact with her for more than two seconds at a time.

* * * * *

“Max, what’s wrong?”

She finally voiced her curiosity to him when they were at the entrance to his room, and when he didn’t answer, she stepped past him and went into the darkened room. Max sensed she wasn’t going to leave until she had an answer, so he went in too, and turned on the light. Liz sat turned to face him, and she hugged her arms to her chest. “Did I do something?”

His eyes softened. “No. It isn’t you,” he insisted.

She bit her lip. Something had to be wrong, though. She knew they weren’t having the best night, and laughingly, she added to herself that tonight was the complete opposite of this afternoon. Still, when she kissed him good night at his door, the kiss had been quick.

She said softly, “Is it a bad thing?”

And Max closed his eyes. Liz thought he wouldn’t answer her so she leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes too when his soft reply came, “No.”

“Then why can’t you tell me?” she pointed out, and at first Max hesitated, wanting to agree with her. He weakly admitted a few seconds later, “Because I don’t want it to change how you’ll feel about me.”

She caught the breath in her throat, and exhaled quietly. Whatever it was she realized he was feeling vulnerable about it. Liz realized her next words could either make him shy away from telling her or give him the boost that he needed. She began the only way she knew how, honestly. “I don’t know what you’re scared of Max, but I know what I feel in my heart, and I don’t think anything could change that.” She squeezed his hand.

Max let go of her hand and sat up on the bed. Liz was in front of him, her small frame accentuated by the gorgeous blue skirt she was wearing and he silently admired how beautiful she looked for a second. Slowly her eyes leveled and met his. In her eyes was her support for him, and it was enough to give Max the courage to say what he did next.

He began quietly, “I’m not human,” and when he saw the question jump into her eyes before she could mask it, he clarified with, “I’m an alien.”

She stared at him and then she pursed her lips together briefly, wetting her lips. He stared at her lips then because right now it was easier to look there than in her eyes.

“My parents, the Evans, found Isabel and I wandering along the side of a highway road in 1989 and they adopted us into their family. Michael came back into our lives a few years later at West Roswell Elementary.”

Liz smiled faintly at the name of their school; she hadn’t thought about those years for a while now. “I was on the playground with Isabel and I don’t even think I was paying much attention to her,” Max paused to look at her and she nodded, a confused but encouraging expression on her face.

“I think I was looking out at something else, and I saw someone watching us from a few feet away. As soon as I saw him, it was as if I knew him. Then these memories came over me, like a flash of something I was unable to remember before. I saw he things that had happened between when we had been born to when the Evans found us, and even memories I hadn't witnessed of Michael's life. It shocked me. It was so scary to find out that I was something else. It’s always been the three of us.”

“But you recognized each other?” Liz asked and Max nodded, relieved that somehow, she understood.

“It was years before we finally understood all of our powers, our abilities, and what we could do.”

“And what can you do?” Liz asked curiously.

Max paused when she spoke, coming down from his temporary high. It had been so freeing seconds ago to let everything about him come out, finally. He looked back into her eyes and found her gaze supportive and patient. “I can heal things, like if someone is hurt, I can stop whatever it is before it’s too late.”

Max went on to explain that though it wasn’t something he had done very often, he knew what its limits were. He was certain that he could heal small wounds and even bone alignments because he had saved a baby bird when he was younger. Liz listened to his story earnestly and her face lit up in every part of the story that was hopeful and where Max had been brave. Once he was done, she told him that quietly and he had denied that he was brave. It struck him how she could see him like this when he didn’t feel like a real person at all. He also told her that he figured he could heal something bigger, but opportunities like that had luckily never happened.

“And I can manipulate the molecular structure of things.” Max saw the question flicker in her eyes and he looked for something he could change.

He eyed something on the top of his bookshelf, the white golf ball his father made a hole in one with last year during a business tournament. He got up off the bed and went to get it. When he came back to her, he sat down on the edge of the bed, and Liz crawled over to him on her knees. He heard the rustle of her tights on the sheets as she moved and then she was sitting beside him staring down at the ball that he held. Max closed his right hand over it, covering it, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw her part her lips, her curiosity swimming in her eyes. She gasped softly when a soft golden light came from out of his hand and flooded the golf ball. She tilted her head to see what it was but Max was quicker and he covered it with the back of his palm, wanting to suspend the surprise.

He looked at her, watching her face as he opened his palm. She bit her lip excitedly as his hands slowly parted. Her smile brightened when he revealed the bud of a white rose instead of a golf ball and she stuttered his name, unable to form anything else coherent. She was awestruck at what she had just seen and finally she said, “It’s beautiful.”

She reached out her index finger to touch the petals so gingerly that Max thought she believed it wasn’t real at first. When she touched the petal, sure enough, it was as soft as any other petal, and it felt silky and smooth under her fingertip. Then he presented the delicate flower to her completely, and she took it gently, cupping her hands around it like he had.

“You made this,” she stated, as she held it. She held it in her hand down in her lap and she took a moment to think this over privately. This was bigger than anything she had ever faced before, and while it was daunting and hard to fathom, she found herself coming back to Max with each question that entered her mind.

“This afternoon, while we were together, I saw something,” she said. “I think it was like a flash, like what you saw when you saw Michael for the first time. You made me see something.”

He couldn’t fight back the small smile, or his excitement, and he asked her what she saw. “I’m not even sure,” she said as she rubbed her fingers over the rose petals. “I think I saw the place you were born, and something that happened back in ninth grade.”

He smiled, and though he had so many questions running through his mind, he saw the faraway look on her face replace her thoughtful one.

“What else?” he prompted.

Her smile widened, “I-I think I saw the stars.”

Max smiled even more, and he said, “Yeah?” and she nodded. Once she said it, she realized it was possible then. It was entirely possible to see stars while you were kissing, so long as the boy you were with was an alien. She smiled at him, slipped her hand into his, and asked him her next question. “So what does this mean for you?”

At his hesitation, she continued, “If you’re different, what’s going to happen to you?”

“Nothing,” he said. He turned on the bed so he was facing her, and he held her other hand. “I’m still Max Evans,” he promised. “Who I am is only a part of me. We waited during high school to see if something more would come out of it, but it didn’t. You see, we always thought someone would come.

“We thought the FBI might come in, wanting to remove unwanted persons, or that someone from our home might come, asking us to go home. But nothing happened, and by the end of high school, we decided to start living normal lives.”

He met her eyes when he said this last part, wanting to indicate that she was a part of that, and while she did meet his gaze, her mind was elsewhere. First, her mind was swimming with the first thing he had mentioned, the FBI. It scared her that there were people out there that wanted to hurt Max, and she told him this. He reassured her with telling her what kind of careful life he’s had to lead.

“Is that why you were so quiet?” she blurted out, her mind chewing over the real Max Evans and finding that the one she thought she knew didn’t add up to the parts of who he was he was introducing to her. “Back then?” she clarified, and he nodded sadly.

They sat quietly again, and she remembered another alternative he mentioned. Her heart lurched at his last alternative, the possibility that he might go home someday and she tightened her grip on his hand. “Does that mean you might leave someday?” she asked, and he heard the tone in her voice.

“I don’t think so,” he told her and he rubbed her palm gently.

She nodded, but her mind was still swimming. In ten seconds, the boy she had known so well had changed. He wasn’t the same anymore.

He moved his hand to rest between them and she could see that he was waiting for her reaction and she suddenly let go of his hand. “Max, I know what I said ten minutes ago,” she gulped and swallowed hard…. this was so hard to say. “How nothing could change that, but I’m so scared.”

“Don’t be.” He reached out to hold her but she moved to stand suddenly, taking her rose in her hand and her purse in the other. She bent down to push on her shoes.

“Liz,” he said softly, wishing she would come back and sit down next to him.

“Max, I’m scared because there’s this whole other part of you that’s just as important as the first part that walked up to me that day in the lectern hall,” and he looked into her eyes and saw that she was smiling as she said this so he smiled too. That December day felt like ages ago. He could have never imagined that one risk like that would have brought him here today. “And I don’t know him at all,” she breathed.

Max frowned and when looked at her, she wore a bittersweet smile. “I’m sorry,” he stuttered, softly, but she stepped back to him, “Don’t be. It’s not your fault…you became who you are because you were scared and cautious about letting someone in and I know how hard tonight was for you. I know I said whatever you told me wouldn’t change things, but it does.” She bit her lip thoughtfully before reaching out to cup his face. Max bent his head into her palm, into her loving caress and he trembled at the warmth her hand passed onto his face, “I want to know him,” she whispered, and he looked up into shiny eyes. She looked like she was ready to cry, and that was the last thing he wanted.

“Can we take a step back so I can?” she asked.

She felt the sway of his head in her hand as he nodded. Then she pressed her lips on his softly and she left.

Max took off his dress clothes and settled into bed, and tried drifting off, but his dreams were quick and overwhelmingly bright with the colors dreams are made of. He dreamed of Liz Parker in his arms, kissing and loving him, and Max woke up abruptly a little into the morning realizing the one thing that had been evading him for months. He was in love with her.

As Liz slipped away into the night to return to her dorm, it crossed her mind that it would be strange not having him in her life in the same way. She started to realize what she would be missing and she added a silent add on to her question. She needed to know if from the way things had changed, her heart had taken the same cue and changed too because Liz was sure she had just fallen in love with an alien. She was scared because she wasn’t sure what it would mean for her heart. She went to bed that night even unhappy than when she had taken her nap that afternoon, and her dreams were of the all too few weeks she and Max had spent together.

TBC...I'll see you next week.

[DreamerLaure]

ok so the way i read this was she didn't break up with him she wants to get to know the other half. so that is not bad right.

It's not.

This part's written a little differently. Also, I took down the challenge text because I've asked LoveisForever if I could change one part and it will definitely affect later parts And, don't worry about this part...I'll fix it, I promise

*****

Chapter 16

It’s May 20th, and it’s been a while since I’ve written anything on these pages, but it’s only because during freshman year, my life became indescribable.

At the beginning of the year, I thought I would be able to analyze all of my feelings, and whatever was jumbled up in my heart by setting it down on paper. Then I met Max and my world was no longer the same. He changed me, and it’s not the conventional way where people leave something permanent on you. It was subtler.

He made me smile, laugh, and feel things I’d never allowed my heart to feel before. If my heart were a room, then Max added the paint to its walls. And as unreal as those months were, they were still some of the best months of my life.

“Liz?”

She put down her pen in exasperation and sighed. Of course. It was moving day and loosely translated, the day that everyone sought her out…could she really have expected ten minutes to herself to just write? The semester ended today and when she finished packing last night at eleven, Nicole dropped by her room and enlisted her help in sorting out her room. When Liz entered, the room was a disaster; there was so much that needed to be done that Liz hadn’t ended up in her own bed until two o’clock. To say she was tired would be an understatement. To say she was not looking forward to what Nicole would ask her next was putting it nicely.

She turned her head, and glanced through the window to the dorm and waited for Nicole to come around the corner. She was surprised when she saw Nicole struggling under a huge box, and she changed her mind. Liz jumped up and went through the door, rushing to Nicole’s side. “Wait!” she called out, and she pushed her hand under one side to help her lift it. Both girls struggled to take one step forward when suddenly the box was lifted effortlessly out of their hands and up into the air.

Nicole smiled up at him flirtatiously. “My hero has arrived.”

Max laughed. It still sent tickles down Liz’s back when she heard him. She bit her lip and looked up at him. He was tanned from lounging on the Green yesterday afternoon. The Green was a special part of the main campus that was a flat area and it extended from the science buildings to the dorms. During the summer months, the students liked to tan on the green for a few hours, and unfortunately for Liz, it was harder to avoid thinking about Max if he was there everyday. When she finished her lab period at four, she saw him there and now she was appreciating the sun’s effect on him just as much as she had yesterday.

“I’m no hero,” he murmured and Nicole insisted, “You are to me.”

When they were done, Nicole walked away and Max turned his head to look back at Liz but she had sauntered off too. She was sitting on the porch rail again, her body tensed over the small journal she was writing in. Max came come over when he heard Nicole call Liz’s name. He was moving around some of the things in her trunk, which seemed innocent enough to Liz when she chose the porch rail to write in her journal. She didn’t know he was watching her out of the corner of his eye. It was a good thing he came over though because Nicole packed that box in particular with as much stuff as it could hold.

Once he had that box packed away too, he turned around and studied Liz. She looked up at the sky for a second. He knew she was probably trying to think of a word, but he appreciated the way the sunlight shone down on her hair. It was funny that after all this time, that’s what he missed the most. Her kiss he could forget for a time being. He dreamed of kissing her sometimes, and to be honest, that was probably as good as it was going to get. He could get her laugh again. He was still her friend after all. Her smile he could get again too. The sparkle in her eyes he saw when she talked to other people, and it hurt him that he didn’t see it directed to him as much anymore. She was finally happy. When he saw her back in December, that’s all he’d ever wanted for her. But, now, rather belatedly he realized that he wanted to be the one to make her happy.

It was funny though how after all this time he still wanted to touch her hair and run his fingers through it and see if it was as soft as it looked. “Yeah,” Max muttered under his breath as he turned away from her. He could sense that she was about to look up, and he turned back to setting up Nicole’s car. “Funny.” He wasn’t supposed to be having these thoughts anymore. He was just her friend now.

I still have Max. He’s still my friend. I still see him close to everyday, and since we stepped back, I don’t think I have gone a day without seeing him. I expected things to really change after the step back. I thought I would miss being a part of his life, or even just miss him, but the thing is, seeing him everyday like this isn’t helping either. It’s just as bad. I miss him now because he’s so accessible…

She looked up just as Max ducked his head and she frowned. Was he looking at her? That couldn’t be possible. She and Max weren’t eyeing each other anymore. No, he did that with Nicole now, and Rebecca, and Mary, and well, almost every single red-blooded female on campus. Liz hadn’t even thought of herself as pretty but apparently those girls had and now that she was no longer on his arm, they popped up everywhere. To Liz though, standing by his side was just as good as being on his arm and she scowled as much as possible. Telling her his secret made Max open up. They even talked more easily now. His confidence extended to everyone he talked to now. Max found the whole thing entertaining and he accepted numbers with ease and patience, but as for Liz, well, her patience could only last so long.

Liz watched his muscles flex as he bent down to put the box into the trunk of the car. Nicole was walking back to Liz and she dropped her mouth open in mock awe as she passed him. Liz rolled her eyes. Nicole was harmless. Liz smiled to herself; Nicole was also dating her lab partner, so all this attention she was giving was to try getting to Liz and make her crack.

When Liz told Nicole what happened, her voice sounded miserable and Nicole picked up on what Liz wasn’t going to admit. “Did you tell him how you felt?”

She pushed gently, and Liz hedged around the truth. “I told him I needed time to get to know him.”

She told Nicole that Max had been keeping a big part of himself from her and that the secret between them had preempted this step back. Nicole didn’t push the question again but over the last two months, the topic came up between them often. Each time it did, Liz pushed her feelings aside; she didn’t want to deal with that right now.

The last two months, she and Max had grown closer, but as friends. She knew everything about him, from the freckle he had behind his left ear she discovered months ago during their early days when she used to kiss him right there to the scar he had on his wrist from when Michael accidentally blew up a vase on the kitchen table.

She held his hand as he recounted every memory with her, and he shared some with her, too. Those were the most surreal moments during this whole ordeal. It was funny how even though she knew he was different and what his powers could do, the moments he shared memories with her were the most intense in her life. It wasn’t accidental anymore; if he was telling a story, he would ask her if he could show her.

At first she wasn’t sure if she wanted this kind of storytelling. Her cheeks would flame if she remembered when the first cinematic experiences with Max happened. He reassured her though, “It’s just a connection,” and Liz knew as she nodded her head the first time that she was making a mistake. If only visions were just visions. They were anything but with Max, and when they were done, her breathing was labored if it was really intense and if what she saw was really wonderful, she reacted quickly. She was often so impressed with what she saw that for that briefest second after they finished connecting, Liz would forget everything else except to breathe.

Nicole came back over to Liz and she whispered in her ear as she passed her, “He’s hot,” and Liz nodded absent-mindedly. Nicole walked back into the dorm to continue emptying her room and Liz looked up.

She was watching him rearrange the boxes in the trunk, and when he looked up, he met her eyes. Before she could disguise that she was looking at him, he started coming over to her. Max smiled and he was about to hug her when she scolded, “No, you’re all sweaty.” He grinned. “I’m not,” and he reached out his hands to envelop her. She laughed as he hugged her because sure enough he was. Surprisingly, the Max scent was still there.

But for all that I feel about Max and what’s happened to us, every day a part of me doubts every reason I had for asking him to step back. Now that we’re back, can we ever take a step forward again?

When she wasn’t looking, Max watched Liz Parker. Her head was bent over the journal in her lap and she looked absorbed in what she was writing. He watched her a little impatiently too. He wanted her to look up again so he could see her face properly. Finally she did look up, but it was to smile at a passing senior. Max slipped into Nicole’s room as quickly as possible, grabbing the first box he laid his eyes on. Then he made his way to the doors and swung them open with his foot, his hands occupied with holding the box. The box was a little large, and most of Max’s face was obscured as he approached her. The senior was walking away when Max neared Liz and he was shaking his head lightly.

“Bye, Parker,” he called back to her, and she smiled at him. Then she pressed her pen back into the paper.

I’ve found a really good balance in my life though. Since Max and I agreed to take a step back and try getting to know each other, we’ve become closer. Granted it’s not as close as we were before he opened up to me, but I’m content with being his friend. I really am…

Max smiled at Liz as he passed her again and he was rewarded with a smile back. She happened to look up as he got closer to her. He kept his eyes on her, not looking away until the last possible second and he nearly knocked into Nicole as she bounded out of the dorm.

He towered over her a little but she wasn’t the slightest bit intimidated. She smirked at him and he frowned but then she pointedly glanced at Liz who was bent back over her journal again, and Max sidestepped her. He wasn’t really up to another of her speeches on how to win Liz back. The thing is, he didn’t want to win her when he was already hers. His only wish was that he could let her know.

And there’s nothing I would do to change that. We’re friends, nothing more, and that’s perfectly fine…. He’s even going back to Roswell with me tomorrow morning, that’s how platonic our friendship is.

“Hey,” Max said as he came back around. Liz had spent some time crafting her last words and she was tapping the pen on the paper absent-mindedly. Max was walking towards her when she looked up.

“Are you almost ready?” he asked.

She nodded. “I just have to finish this last part.” She hugged her journal to her chest and Max nodded.

Nicole came bounding out of the dorm excitedly. “I’m all packed!” she exclaimed, and Liz and Max exchanged a secret smile.

“No kidding,” she laughed. “My room is totally empty.” She reached out and hugged Liz, “and I couldn’t have done it without my best friend listening to me complain all the way,” Nicole squeezed Liz tightly. Then she looked up at Max and smiled brightly, “and my personal moving van,” to which everyone laughed.

Liz nodded. “Next time, don’t keep me up until two taping boxes.”

Nicole smiled, “I can do that.” Liz rolled her eyes. Those were Nicole’s famous last words.

It’s perfectly fine. It’s okay to just be his friend.

Yet, as I’m writing this, the knot in my stomach is not loosening. It’s a lie. I’ve never wanted anything more, but the thing is, I don’t have any idea how to get him back.

Nicole dragged Max to her side of the vehicle and as soon as he was there she gave him her best disapproving glare.

Max crumbled under her scrutiny, “What?” he asked exasperatedly. “Nicole, it’s clearly not meant to be,” he said using her words. Those exact words were on his mind lately, but still the words rolled off his tongue uncomfortably. Nicole felt that way, he reminded himself. He chanced another look back at Liz over his shoulder to see her just closing the dorm door. When he refaced Nicole she looked at him pointedly. “It is,” Nicole insisted. “I see how you two look at each other. I just wish you both weren’t so stupid as to not let something small come between you. Forget whatever it is and just give it a chance Max.”

“I can’t.” Max said weakly, and Nicole shrugged her shoulders. “Try, Max. There’s no such thing as what you can’t do, only what you haven’t done.”

She brushed her hair behind her ear and swung open her car door. Her little two door car was packed with all of her stuff from the semester, half of which she had bought while at school. She stretched her hands up and then slid into the car, and Max suppressed a laugh.

“Will you take my advice?” she asked disinterestedly, as she flipped open her compact and fixed her lipstick.

Max looked at the girl who was descending the porch stairs with a purse on her shoulders and a skirt he’d never seen before. “I lent that to her,” Nicole murmured, and Max turned to her suddenly, “How did you – ”

“I have a nose for these sort of things.”

At that moment Liz came over to them and she stepped around Max and kissed Nicole’s cheek. “Call me when you get back to Vermont,” Liz insisted.

“Call me when you get to Roswell,” and when she saw Liz’s puzzled expression she quipped, “You’re not carrying your cell, right?”

“Oh,” Liz sighed, “That’s right, I’m not.” She smiled, “I’ll call you then.” She and Max were driving all the way back to Roswell, and Nicole was right, phone service was questionable.

Nicole nodded, “Okay, bye guys; see you in September,” she said cheerily as she revved up her car. “Have a great summer,” she added, and Liz smiled. The car rocked back for a second and both Max and Liz stifled back a giggle. Nicole’s face in the side view mirror formed a perfect oh, as if she were shocked this was happening, and they smiled even more innocently when she glanced over at them curiously. After a few more tries, the car finally rocked forward and she pulled off. Max and Liz waved to her in her side view mirror as she left and they watched the car go towards the main gate.

Max turned to Liz and smiled. “So, are you ready?”

She smiled up at him, “I am.” She started walking off to her car, which was just ahead of them, and he smiled as she opened the locks on the doors and he slipped in.

As the miles started to fall away and Liz was humming along to a pop song, Max found himself looking out at the landscape, remembering Nicole’s words, “only what hasn’t been done.”

He looked back at her; the wind was blowing through her hair, she was blowing a bubble from her chewing gum, and singing along with the music. He cringed when he heard one sour note. He was in love with his best friend. Not only was she the person who knew everything about him, but also the girl who could kiss him breathless. That she knew what he was humbled him. That she hadn’t completely run away relieved him. At least he still had a chance with her. He watched her and he waited…only a second later, she turned her head to him. She felt him looking at her, and she always could but it hadn’t happened like this in a long time. Maybe the close proximity in the car was making it happen this time around.

Their eyes locked for a second before she looked away abruptly. Max watched her flustered expression and he was mildly amused. He hadn’t realized until then that he still affected her. In his mind, he had a really good chance at getting her back.

[DreamerLaure]

Flamehair You’ve got it

Eve Yep, he sure does.

Guel Yes, we will see lots of them there.

Clueless All in good time

Timelord31 We'll see

LoveisForever they will

Rowedog haha, apparently you have to…let’s give her an M!

I've got good news The Prettiest Thing got first Runner’s Up in Roswell Heaven’s Celestial Awards for the Most Romantic Scene! Thanks guys! If I could hug you guys, I would, as this is as much a yay for me as it is for you and all I can say is more good stuff is coming soon.



Chapter 17

It was Max’s turn at the wheel when they were on the last highway stretch before Roswell. Liz closed her eyes no more than an hour after they switched, leaving Max to drive the distance alone. It was nearing nightfall, and the sky had a soft blue color that looked as if it had been evenly painted in one long brush stroke from one side of the desert landscape to the other.

After she had given in to her fatigue, he looked sideways at her. When he saw her shiver, he put his college sweatshirt over her shoulders and arms. In her sleep, she responded by moaning softly, and a sigh escaped her lips before she shifted so her back was to him. He could tell she was just leaning into the chair to get more comfortable. She pressed one sleeve of the blanket under her chin, maybe it felt soft, but her new position made it seem like she was giving him the cold shoulder in her sleep. Secretly though he was thrilled that she wasn’t rejecting his sweatshirt.

They were entering Roswell hours earlier than they planned to. Max’s and Liz’s parents were expecting them the following morning, not this evening. Liz’s Mom and Dad knew more about Max than Max’s parents knew about her, but that was only because they knew him as one of their high school customers at the Crashdown.

Max had been watching Liz Parker from afar from then and admittedly, even earlier. He thought she was beautiful as he watched her going around the Crashdown to collect orders or saw her in passing during a school day between classes. He had few classes with her in high school, just biology in tenth grade and then advanced biology senior year. There was the odd pep rally when Liz and her friends were only a few feet away from him or a combined PE health class where Liz sat near him, but to have known Liz Parker during high school was his dream, one that only materialized this year.

At first he worried that being with her couldn’t happen because of not only who he was, but also what he was. She surprised him though on this subject just like she had on so many other things. For example, when he nibbled her neck she curled her hands around him even tighter, effectively bringing his body closer to hers and letting her playful side come out. It always surprised him if when he started something with her, she did something sudden like that. He remembered how the first time he traced his tongue over her lips, she sighed as she opened her mouth to let him in, and every time after that, he heard that sigh again.

She had surprised him with how readily she accepted who he was. She had gotten to know him, and maybe even more importantly, she had gotten to know his alien side. With knowing him, she strived to understand him and be a friend to him. He was lucky to have her friendship.

He wouldn’t deny though that after all these months, sexual frustration was setting in and he wanted her to surprise him in the ways he liked best. He missed her. Max glanced over at her often as she slept and if her shoulders ever shifted and the sweatshirt slid down her arms, he would reach out to push it back up.

* * * * *

Max turned the car to the right smoothly, coming off the highway and entering Roswell. Liz stirred in her sleep as a stream of sunlight fell onto her face. She rolled over onto her back, and dug her elbows into the chair as she eased herself up into a sitting position.

She didn’t say anything to Max, which he was used to. It wasn’t that they were having a fight or not speaking, but she was always quiet when she just woke up. He knew this from the nights she spent at his dorm during the year and during their trip.

She craned her neck to look out the window. Max glanced at her and saw she was holding his sweatshirt close to her chest before she stretched the sleeves out in front of her and pulled it on. He bit back a grin. When he saw her face him it turned out she was only stretching out her back and rubbing her eyes.

Max couldn’t decide if they should go to the Crashdown first or to his house. They were in her car, so it might be easier to go to his house first, take out his things, and let Liz drive back to the Crashdown on her own. Then what? Max wondered. They hadn’t made any promises to see each other tomorrow or the next day. Max sensed she wanted space this summer, but the question he had was how much did she want and how much longer could he last.

He glanced at her to find her intently studying him. He smiled uneasily and she matched his smile, but more confidently. “Do you want to go to your house first,” she said, voicing what he’d been thinking. “It might be easier.”

“Good point,” he said and he drove further into town before turning off one of the side streets to head into one of the residential sections.

It was an early summer evening and his parents were probably home. He was anxious for her to meet them. They knew her from when he went to high school as one of her classmates, but his parents had heard about her this year during their phone calls. There was no doubt in his mind that his Mother would be curious as to why he had been talking about her a little less – it never failed to surprise him how perceptive she was, but he hoped she wouldn’t be in her usual chatty mood and let something slip that really shouldn’t be mentioned. He could take the twenty questions later, but he didn’t want it while she was there.

He pulled into the driveway, and killed the engine. Liz moved to unbuckle her seatbelt at the same time he moved to do the same and their heads were only inches apart. Liz’s head was bent down and she saw her fumbling with hers.

“Hey,” he touched her hand. “Are you nervous?” She met his gaze and smiled shyly. He added, “Because if you are, I can tell you, it’s nothing compared to how nervous I am,” which prompted her to giggle.

“It’s good to know I’m not alone,” she laughed.

She undid her seatbelt easily now and they got out of the car. Liz collapsed her hands onto the roof of the car and bent her head down, and she watched Max stretch his arms up.

He turned mid stretch and didn’t disguise his yawn. “Think I’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight?” she teased.

“You?” he asked, smiling at her over the top of the car. “You’ve slept already.”

“I don’t know,” she dragged. “I think I need to sleep a little more. All those nights in the motels must be catching up, finally.”

Liz felt the sweatshirt sleeves droop when she brought her wrists down to her side and she looked down at the oversized sweatshirt, finally acknowledging it. In her dreams, it’d been a blanket, and when she’d woken up, it was a sweatshirt. Now she could see it was Max’s and that it was at least five sizes too big for her. She’d never worn any of his sweatshirts before. This was a first….then again she’d also expected wearing one of his articles of clothing for the first time to have come while they were dating.

She was yanking it over her head when Max crossed to her side of the car. The material was covering her face as he came beside her. He held her wrist and said quietly, “Wait.”

He reached under the collar of the sweatshirt, his hands grazing her neck as his fingers reached for her ears. Her earrings had snagged in the material without her noticing it and he gently made space between the sweatshirt and her ears before pulling it over her head.

Both teens sprung apart when the front door to Max’s house swung open and the voices of Max’s parents carried to them. Max was facing the house and Liz was right in front of him, her back to them. She ducked her head, hiding her flushed cheeks, and stepped aside before looking up to see them. Max’s mother’s face lit up when she saw him and his father smiled widely too. She didn’t want to intrude on the moment right then so Liz stepped aside as his parents stepped forward to greet him.

“Max!” his mom said finally, as if she had been waiting months to say his name to him when he was in front of her. It had been months; he came home for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then his parents had flown out to Illinois for two weeks during his Spring Break. He spent that break with them in Chicago, and that had only been a few weeks. Having an empty nest was an adjustment, one the Evans were slowly getting used to. She smiled at him with unshed tears in her eyes and hugged him.

Once he turned to his father, Diane Evans focused her attentions on the partner Max drove home with. She didn’t hesitate from stepping forward to her warmly. “Hi, you must be Liz.”

“Hi, Mrs. Evans,” Liz smiled.

“Honey,” Diane held both of her hands in hers, squeezing lightly. “You can call me, Diane,” and she smiled at her too. Philip and Max had finished also, and Philip smiled at the petite brunette Max was enamored with.

He saw the glances they were exchanging, and even more importantly, he saw the way his son looked at her when she wasn’t looking at him. To Philip, that moment was very important because he could see something deeper than just attraction there.

“Were you going out?” Max asked, curious.

She’d been caught up in the flurry of her son coming home, and she recovered. “Yes, there’s a lobster special at the Seafood restaurant and we’ve got reservations. If we’d known you’d be coming home tonight, we wouldn’t have made plans.”

Max could see the wheels churning in her mind for the various meal courses she could try out on them tonight instead. He knew it was going to be a long summer, filled with experimental dinners because his Mother had a penchant for cooking books and exploring different meals.

“It’s so nice to have one kid home for the summer,” Philip put his arm around Diane and smiled at her meaningfully, knowing how much this meant to her. He missed the bewildered look Max threw his way until he looked up. “Didn’t you talk to Isabel?”

“Yeah,” Max sputtered. “I talked to her two weeks ago and she said she’d see me home.”

“Oh, she was here, but she left yesterday,” Diane explained. She looked up at her husband. Philip added, “A law firm down in Arizona I work with sometimes called asking if there were any local teenagers who are interested in this field of work. Isabel was really interested in doing it and so was your friend, Michael.”

“Michael was here?” Max said, staring at his parents. Something wasn’t adding up; first of all, he hadn’t heard from Michael since early into the first semester, and though Isabel had mentioned that she had nothing to do this summer, he was surprised at how quickly they had left. It puzzled him too that they hadn’t said anything to him before they left.

“Yeah, he came back into town a few weeks ago. I didn’t see him until Isabel came back, but then the opportunity came up on the same day and they both grabbed it.”

Philip was no longer paying attention to the myriad of thoughts that were running through Max’s head as he was moving to the car with Diane. Liz watched Max’s face during this exchange and she understood his concerns. She came over to him and slipped her hand in his. The slight pressure of her hand in his brought Max out of his thoughts and he looked down into her eyes.

It was incredible how looking into her brown eyes gave him the strength to do anything, including forget about the concerns that weighted down on him. She didn’t voice anything to him right then but held his hand and then her other hand reached up around him to make small circles on his back.

That comforted him and a moment later he pulled away from her and smiled. Diane watched the entire exchange thoughtfully, and she was amused by how oblivious they were to their presence. The Max she sent off to college this summer would have been incredibly embarrassed if she even witnessed him flirting with a lifeguard.

When Max and Liz moved away from his parents to open the trunk together, from where she sat in the car, Diane Evans exchanged a knowing smile with her husband. This was more than just a casual friend at university. This was going to be an interesting summer.

Liz and Max lingered behind the open trunk back for a second, and Max asked, “This isn’t weird, right?”

She smiled up at him. “I’ll be okay. I wasn’t expecting it, but it’s really nice to meet your parents. They’re really nice.”

She turned away from him with a box in her hands so she missed his elated smile.

Max grabbed a box too, and he followed close behind her to the front door. He was just about to open the door when his Mom called out his name. The car was still in the driveway and it looked as if the Evans had been discussing something.

“Hey, why don’t you finish up here and then join us?” Diane suggested.

Max hesitated; he wasn’t sure how Liz would take to a dinner like this and he was fast formulating an excuse when Liz interrupted, “That would be great, Diane.” Liz smiled enthusiastically, and Max watched his Mom’s smile widen.

It appeared his Mom was becoming taken with Liz too. Though he hadn’t had a girlfriend during high school, he was surprised by the good start they were having. But, what did just happen, Max wondered. His parents waved at Max and Liz as they drove off, and Max turned onto Liz, smiling. “What just happened?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said innocently, “but tell me you weren’t hungry. I guess, though, you could call that charming your parents.”

Max grinned, “It’s not that hard when it’s you.”

Liz was inches away from him and there were no boxes between them now, and the moment from earlier was back. “Yeah?” she asked.

Max’s smile faded. “What’s wrong, Max?” Liz asked.

“It’s just weird that they’re not here,” his voice trailed off. Liz instantly knew he was talking about Isabel and Michael. “We’ve always been cautious in the past, and we’d never have done something like this before.”

She nodded. “I’m sure they’ll be back; we have all summer. Don’t worry about it,” and she squeezed his hand for extra good measure.

[DreamerLaure]

Just pointing out that it's Monday here......

It is here too

Chapter 18

When did I get so nervous? Liz mused as she spun around slowly. Her dress fit her just the same, as if a day had not passed since the last time she had worn it. Liz smoothed her hand over her curved apron and found her order book in one of the side pockets. She didn’t take it out yet for she had just wanted to make sure that it was still there. Her shoes still offered the amount of support that she knew would come in handy later when she was well into her shift, and once she was back in front of the mirror she pointed her feet in front of her, modeling the shoes. Then her eyes drifted back up to her own face. She had wound her hair into a ponytail easily in a matter of seconds, her efficiency from high school coming back to her when while she was at school this year she had been used to taking her time. Her face was makeup free, so her fatigue from the car trip still showed on her face.

As happy as Liz’s parents were to see her again, especially her father, they understood when she said she was tired. “I think I need a few hours,” Liz explained, “and then I’ll be back on my feet again.”

“Aren’t you hungry?” her mother asked curiously. It was almost ten when Liz came back home from the Evans’s, but her parents didn’t know that she had been there. They thought she was just coming into Roswell.

Liz quickly corrected them, explaining that she had driven with Max to his house and they’d been invited to the seafood restaurant with his parents. Her Dad told her that if she wanted food later, she could help herself to any of the leftovers that were in the fridge. Then he hugged her and said goodnight. When Jeff Parker was out of hearing range, Liz thought she was free to go off to her room right away, but her Mom stopped her.

“So…Max,” she began, stopping Liz from walking away easily. Liz turned around to face her Mom and she said wearily, as if she’d been saying this a hundred times, “He’s just a friend, Mom.”

Nancy Parker’s smile didn’t fade. “I’m sure,” she said. “Good night, bee.” She hugged Liz too, and gently squeezed her daughter’s shoulders. Liz hadn’t heard the familiar nickname ‘bee’ in months, and for what was another moment out of many instances, she was happy to be back home.

The first and only time she asked her parents about the nickname, her Dad explained that she used to flit around the house when she was younger and like a bumblebee, she was always looking for something to do. Liz asked if that was a bad thing and they explained that it wasn’t because she always found something constructive to do, which they’d been thankful for. She would read to them from one of her books, or plant sunflowers for her mom, but the latter was usually her favorite thing to do. Once Liz saw that it was a positive thing, she didn’t find any reason to ask about it anymore. She loved being their bumblebee, and hearing her Mom call her by the name again now that she was home and all grown up made her heart swell. It was good to be home.

One thing was missing, she realized. She turned to her right and when she spotted the sparkly headband sitting on the top of her dresser, she picked it up. The antennas started to rattle as soon as her fingers touched it, and she remembered fondly that its material was very flimsy. She tucked the ends of the headband behind her ear and slipped it into her ponytail before returning to the mirror for her last once over.

It was weird being back in uniform again, but it did feel like she was coming back to something very familiar. Liz came back home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and while she was back, she’d done some waitressing. However, since she hadn’t been home since then, having been away from December to May, she felt rusty at this.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t grown up at the Crashdown, or been at this for years, but apparently taking a break from it made her not only miss it but feel foreign to it when she returned. For her knack for it to have faded was unusual. She’d been waitressing officially since she was fourteen, but it had started even before then. She was a spectator from an early age. It always looked interesting. Her mind had been filled with other aspirations, and in college, the last thing she had wanted to do was work in a restaurant again. However, something always tugged on her heart when she saw people waitressing, and being back in it made her realize just how nostalgic for home she had been. When she was young, Liz’s dream of being a scientist was always the lighthouse up ahead, but her parents had instilled good work habits in her. It was expected that one day she would work here in the café also.

When she was much younger, she would watch her mother work and that’s how she learned everything. Then after she turned fourteen, she picked up small shifts in the summer. At the same time that she was being brought into the job, her Mom was leaving it. Nancy took up a job as a teller at the First National Bank that year, and soon she stopped working there, while Liz continued working throughout high school, all the way up until she went away to college.

Last night when she came in, her parents were still up, sharing conversation over two slices of blueberry pie.

“Liz!” her Mom exclaimed when she saw her daughter pry open the door. Jeff turned around quickly, and his face was as bright as her Mom’s.

He got up and relieved Liz of the box she was holding. Liz came into the house a little more, and her Mom threw her arms around her. The hug was suffocating, but at that moment Liz didn’t care; she squeezed back just as hard. Her Dad’s turn was next and his hug was equally strong. When both parents let her go, they finally stepped back.

They asked about her ride over, how it had been, and what the scenery was like. As the questions started to dwindle, Liz’s parents started to really take her in, and that’s when both parents realized that she was more tired than she would admit. They knew she had driven over with a friend, and that it was a guy, but Liz wasn’t up to being pressed for more information on that front. She rushed over any parts in her story that had to do with him, and of course her parents noticed, but in different ways. Her father was pleased to know that she had a good friend. And, Nancy had other thoughts, but she was willing to sit back and see how this would play out. That didn’t stop her from mentioning it quickly to Liz before she sent her daughter off for the night, and she didn’t miss the guilty smile that Liz sported for the briefest second.

Liz’s Mom watched as Liz walked away and headed into her room, her lack of energy much more apparent now than before. She hoped that Liz would get some much needed rest, and the following morning, she didn’t mention anything about Liz’s car friend.

Liz stumbled into the kitchen before her shift started, clumsily, and she looked up at her Mom in exasperation. “What are all of these boxes doing here in the hallway?” she asked.

She had left all of her stuff in her car last night, so there was no way that could be hers. In fact, she had asked her parents if she could be the one to take them in, even if she overslept in the morning. Her frown got deeper as her eyes went from the boxes to her Mom’s guilty expression.

“Mom, what’s going on?” she asked.

Liz walked over to the counter and sat on one of the stools in front of her Mom. Now that she was more into the kitchen, she could see the apartment fully, and that’s when she noticed what she hadn’t the night before. Instead of the ceiling fan that was once suspended from the ceiling, there was a more modest light fixture. The apartment was still cool, and she realized they had probably got central air installed. The curtains over the window were a warmer hue of red, and the apartment’s decorations – the photographs, rugs, and artworks were arranged differently; the apartment itself was more modest.

“Did you redecorate?” Liz asked curiously.

Her Mom started to smile as she looked over Liz’s shoulder at the person who was coming in. “You could say that,” she began, her voice trailing off, and when Liz realized that her Mom was no longer looking at her but past her, she turned around too.

“Grandma Claudia?” Liz cried, and she nearly leaped off the stool to fall into her grandmother’s open arms for a huge hug.

* * * * *

Day one…and absolutely nothing to do. He could only drive around it for so long without it looking ridiculous. First, he left his house when he offered to pick up the hammer his father needed from the hardware store. He hadn’t even been a part of that conversation between his Mom and his Dad when they were discussing where they should hang the tapestry she bought at a flea market. Diane was sure that it was a hidden gem, and when she mentioned it the night before during dinner, she called it a “found” treasure, something she was sure would sell for a lot if she bided her time and waited a few years.

Max of course felt differently, and so did his Dad, as they both were well acquainted with Diane’s fondness for these sorts of treasures. Liz was the only one at the table that indulged her, saying that these sorts of things were always worth something.

Diane smiled proudly that Liz was on her side, and Philip said quickly, “I didn’t know that, but I’m sure that if anyone can tell you the tried and true way to find out, it’s my wife,” and then he smiled at her affectionately. Just the month before, she had found something else, and there would always be another thing the next month. They had been married for a long time though, and they weren’t just comfortable with each other; they knew each other inside out.

Liz raised her fork to her mouth for another bite of lobster and when she looked up, she noticed Max was staring at her intently. Philip got into a discussion with his wife about something at work, and the attention was off of Max and Liz again. Her cheeks turned pink, and then she met his eyes fully. “My grandmother likes to collect found artwork from different cities in the southwest for various book projects and newspaper articles.” Liz paused and smiled confidentially, “Actually she’s even putting a book together right now, but she’s been doing the finding and searching her entire life, and she’s always told me that there’s something to be found everywhere.”

Max smiled at how candid she was being, and he told her honestly, “She sounds like a wonderful person.”

Their eyes stayed with each other for a little longer before the waiter cleared his throat softly. He was standing by Max, his sudden appearance jostling both Max and Liz to the present. Whatever Philip and Diane had been discussing was over now and while Philip was staring at Max in confusion, Diane’s expression was amused as she watched Max trip over, “Huh?” She had never seen her son act like this before, and secretly, she was thrilled to be a witness to it.

The waiter wasn’t as amused and he repeated, with a hint of impatience in his voice, “Would you like a refill of water?”

Max nodded, and as the waiter walked away, he looked his parents’ way to find that they weren’t looking at him at all. Maybe he had imagined that everyone was looking at him, because it had certainly felt that way, he thought to himself. Well, that had been true, only Diane and Philip had looked away once the waiter was done, jumping back into their conversation as effortlessly as if they had never stopped talking. Liz had looked down into her lap when the waiter asked Max what he wanted, and as Max took a sip of his water to regain his senses – he thought he was just tired – he saw her looking at him again over the rim of his glass.

When Max got up that morning, he had headed downstairs almost immediately after getting dressed. He felt restless already, and the summer was just beginning. He had been coming down the stairs when he overheard his dad ask his mom where the hammer was, to which she replied, “I thought you had it.”

Max had a sudden bright idea that popped into his head and coming in on her words, he said, “I can head out to the hardware store and buy a new one.”

Before either Diane or Philip could say anything, Max had grabbed his Dad’s key and opened the front door.

Max circled South Main Street again with the hammer in a plastic bag of its own on the front seat passenger’s side. He only noticed a few customers in the Crashdown the first time he circled it, and one customer in particular, an older man, stood out, and as he passed the Crashdown a third time, he realized he was openly staring at him. That alone was enough for Max to stop, and realize that he should just go inside.

Max pulled his father’s car up to a parking space a few feet away and he got out. His parents could wait on a hammer, he justified wryly.

He walked towards the door purposefully, knowing what he wanted to say and ask her but when the doors chimed and he saw her look up, those thoughts were instantly gone.

Liz was smiling at a customer, and when she looked up, he thought the smile that was on her face was just lingering there because of whatever she had been talking about. That doubt evaporated when she not only continued to smile at him, but gave him a small wave.

He kept his eyes on hers as he stepped in further, and then he pointed to a booth to his right, and she nodded slowly. Max sat down, his back facing the windows, and he picked up the breakfast menu that was on the table.

“Is that your girl?”

A man’s voice intruded Max’s eye contact with Liz and he turned to look over his shoulder at the customer who had witnessed him circling the block not two minutes ago.

He seemed genuinely friendly, but Max was above all a private person, and he said, “Not really.”

For whatever reason, the customer found that funny, and started laughing, before he turned around even more, and swung his legs off of the booth. As Liz came over the older man stopped her mid stride and slipped a bill into her hand.

“Keep an eye on your customers; they’re all good ones,” he said meaningfully before he pushed his cane in front of him and started towards the door.

Liz wrinkled her nose as she came to stand in front of Max. “What was all that about?”

“I have no idea,” Max smiled. She smiled too and then for wanting to say it, she said shyly, “Hi.”

“Hey,” Max said. He cleared his throat officially in jest and returned his gaze to the menu in front of him.

“Do you know what you want?” she asked. Her fingers toyed with the edge of the table. They needed to get these replaced, the edges were starting to chip.

Max knit his eyebrows together as he looked at her playfully. “I haven’t decided yet.”

“Then I’ll wait,” she admonished. She was about to start walking away but Max’s next words stopped her.

“You can wait over here.”

He watched her face as two emotions flickered over it – guilt and undeniable want about doing exactly as he suggested.

“It’s snail hour,” he joked and she looked around the Crashdown with a smile. The other two customers had left also, as she was just settling the bill with them when Max came in. So, it was true; there was no one there right now at nine in the morning on a Saturday.

“I guess that’s our fault for being early birds.” She slid into the seat across from him and propped her elbows up on the table, putting her chin into her hands.

Max smiled and then he returned his attention to the menu. Liz didn’t move; she enjoyed looking at him like this, as he was thinking. His eyebrows were scrunched in the cutest way. She saw him frown at something and for a second, she witnessed the cutest dimple, one she had never noticed before and she smiled.

Max looked up over the menu at her and he kidded, “What are you smiling at, mister?”

She rolled her eyes, and let her gaze fall away from his face and down at the table before raising her eyes back and grinning, “Just thinking.”

Max looked at her wrist, and without thinking much about it, he reached out to touch her bracelet. “This is really beautiful.”

The cloth of the three stranded woven bracelet felt like silk in his fingertips, that’s how generous the material of the threads when brought together was. There were amethyst and amber beads spaced along the length of it and Max’s fingers went over those, impulsively seeking out if they were as glassy as they looked. They weren’t – they were much softer, and under his thumb he felt how soft her skin was, too, and he had forgotten about that for too long. He did remember how sensitive her wrists and her hands were, and when he looked up at her, her eyes were locked on his. The pad of his thumb explored her wrist more, the bracelet forgotten, and he was aware of how fast her pulse was racing under his fingertips.

Then Max laced his fingers with hers, finally. “My Grandmother gave it to me this morning…she came back last week while we were driving and that’s why we didn’t know that she was back…” Liz was stuttering over her words because he was affecting her and she blushed hotly before adding, “So that’s probably why you’ve never seen it before.”

“Yeah, probably,” he agreed knowingly. He secretly loved the effect he had on her.

The bell above the Crashdown door chimed again, and Agnes waltzed in. Max didn’t let go of Liz’s hand, but the both of them made a conscious decision to lower their clasped hands to the top of the table. Max made small circles in her palm as Agnes started to make her way over to the table.

“Liz, you’re back,” she stated blandly. It was no secret that she didn’t enjoy working here, and sometimes Liz wondered if the only reason she kept the job was for lack of anything better to do. And still, Liz wondered why she wouldn’t find something that could make her happy. The years rolled by however, and Agnes continued to work here with a sour demeanor and an uncampy attitude. “I think someone else’s coming in later today, and I know that her shift doesn’t start until one, so I’m just going to – ”

“Actually,” Liz interrupted, and she squeezed Max’s hand. “I’m on my break right now. We were just leaving.”

She stood and after Max put the menu down on the table and stood also, she slipped her hand into his again. “I’ll be back soon,” she said as they headed out of the door so quickly that it took Agnes a few seconds to recover with, “Whaaat…”

Apparently Liz had pulled her break trick, where you wrangle as many breaks as you can, effectively screwing over your coworkers.

Agnes put her pocketbook down on the counter by the order window as she walked towards the swinging doors at the back. She muttered, “I need a cigarette,” and with that left the Crashdown Café. Liz and Max were out of the doors in the front side of it and the main part of the café was empty.

Liz didn’t have to lead Max to his car because the pace of his footsteps matched hers; he was just as eager to spend the day together as she was. When they were by his car door, he was still holding on to her hand. Before he let her go, he pressed, “This is crazy.”

“I know, but I have to admit, if you’re going to be here this summer, the moon side up eggs does become repetitive.”

He didn’t let go of her hand, but he frowned. “How did you know?” he sputtered.

“What?” she asked.

“That’s what I order,” he said.

She blushed as his eyes perused her face, and then he did the sweetest thing. His other hand reached for her waist and he moved his face closer to hers. “Thanks.” His breath fell softly on her cheek.

“For?”

“For noticing me,” he said. His face was facing hers, but his cheek was by hers, and she knew what was coming. So, instead of it being the sweetest thing, it became something else entirely as she suddenly let go of his hand and moved to his left, and out of his near embrace.

Max got into the car first. He wasn’t frustrated; no, she was definitely making him work for every inch, and he knew it might be a while before she would hold his hand like that again and for him to move so close to kissing her again. He noticed absently that she had taken off her headband and he looked longingly at the lower half of her long brown hair that spilled onto the head of the car seat as she sat down. She had a ponytail in, and even though he couldn’t see all of it, what he did see mesmerized him with thoughts of how wonderful it would feel to touch it.

She broke his thoughts when after pulling a plastic bag out from under her, and gripping it so that she could feel its form, she giggled, “Max, what are you doing with a hammer in here?”

[DreamerLaure]

Thanks! Clueless - it was just a customer; I'm not that creative


Chapter 19

In order to be closer to Liz that summer, first Max ate at least two meals a day at the Crashdown. He ate breakfast so often there that he didn’t need to look at the menu any more than she needed to ask him what he would like. The first few times he came to the Crashdown at the beginning of the summer, he wasn’t sure where to sit because he didn’t know what section she covered. So, first he had one of the other waitresses, and he would see Liz in passing. If it was a busy day though, she always managed to flash him a quick smile.

Then he found a booth in her section that he liked, and she teased that it was his booth. One day, when she interrupted him by finishing his order, she blushed, realizing that without necessarily intending to, she had memorized it.

“It’s Tuesday,” she blurted out. She picked up the menu and pressed the end of it on the top of the table.

His eyes met with hers. “I didn’t realize I was so predictable.”

“You aren’t,” she assured him.

There wasn’t much to do that summer in Roswell; the entire summer had a restless feel to it, like anything could happen at any moment. From where Max stood, nothing was happening. His parents were working, doing separate things, and they went away for the weekend three times that summer, twice to Albuquerque, and once to California. They had their twenty second anniversary that summer, and as they’d gotten married in Santa Barbara, they drove up there and stayed in a beachside house for almost an entire week. His father had a few cases scattered throughout the summer, nothing very time consuming, but it did fill his father with a sense of purpose. On the days that fell around his case schedules, they talked about the case at dinner, or at least as much as Philip could give away. He laughingly said one night, “Well, we can always talk about the moral implications,” and his mother would smile. Max knew they were trying, and he was trying too, but at least when this type of conversation came up at dinner last year, he could roll his eyes at Isabel. This summer he had to listen.

His mom was writing a recipe book with one of her Book Club friends. She was excited about the project, and Max and his father were always the lucky recipients of her sample meals. She was also collecting and buying antiques, a new hobby of hers, and she would drive to neighboring towns to visit stores she hadn’t been to yet. She was also on the mailing lists of her regular stores, and all of the owners who knew her, called her whenever they thought they had something she’d like.

Between everything that was going on with his parents that summer, Max didn’t think it was odd that whenever Isabel did call home, only one of his parents were in the house to receive the call, and that often enough, it was his mother who Isabel called.

But, the summer was just beginning. At first he spent most of his time at the Crashdown, and that continued throughout the summer. One afternoon, he noticed a man putting a sign up on the outside of the Convention Center across the street. Max hadn’t paid much attention to the place during high school. There were a few months in their junior year when all Michael could think about was finding the answers to everything, every single question he had about them. If there was anything to find, then Michael had taken the wrong fork in the road.

The Convention Center in town had been one of Michael’s first stops. For a few days, he’d read everything he could about stars, but when he tried to match up what he read with the pictures of so called evidence in one of the center’s galleries, nothing panned out.

As Max looked at the Convention Center that afternoon, he realized how frustrating it had been, how terrible to be faced with the reality that there were no answers. In some ways it had always been easier for both Isabel and Max because they had their families, but Max wished that for once, not only could he see and understand Michael, but that Michael could see and understand him. He was just as scared and worried; they all were, yet Michael seemed to think that he was on his own.

Max had the fleeting thought that maybe Michael was still looking for answers. Liz was two tables away and she was supposed to be taking down one of her customer’s orders but when she looked up, she smiled at Max instead.

No, he told himself. Michael couldn’t still be looking, and if he were, it would probably be just for knowing sake. How could he want more when they finally had the chance, for the first time in their lives, to be completely free? How could Max ever want more when he had a girl like Liz in his life?

She suddenly looked away and Max smiled; she was serving a family of six and one of the little boys was tugging on her apron. Liz turned all of her attention back to the family and continued taking down the rest of their order.

Max looked back out of the window again, and he saw that whoever was hanging the sign was done. He read it quickly, and impulsively, Max got up out of his booth and pushed open the door.

The sound of the bell made Liz look up as she closed her order notebook. She stared after Max as he dashed across the street. She smiled at the little boy who was grabbing for her again, and dodged his hand before he could close his fist around her apron again. His hands were sticky, and while Liz took down the last of their order, his mother worked at unfurling his hand.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him make another reach for her, and she dodged and offered a smile to his parents. “I’m going to put in your order,” she said, gesturing vaguely to the back vicinity of the café, before turning and going there.

She was halfway across the room when someone else said, “Excuse me,” and Liz had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. This felt like the longest shift she’d ever had.

Liz stuck the order for noisy table #6 on the tack by the order window before following the voice of the customer who was waiting on her now. As she neared the table, her smile widened.

“You know, you’ve worked here before; you can help yourself to the milkshakes…all those things aren’t off limit to family.”

“Then I wouldn’t have an excuse for you to come over,” Claudia smiled. She gestured to Liz to lean in closer and when she did, she whispered confidentially, “No one’s watching…sit down.”

Liz smiled as she sat, but as soon as she sat, she slumped in the booth and wearily put her chin in her hands. She did manage to sit somewhat upright as she studied her grandmother.

“You know, I haven’t worked here in close to twenty years.” Claudia looked up at the walls. “They used to have framed pictures up here, with newspaper clippings and pictures of some of the celebrities who’d been down here.” She looked up and saw Liz’s puzzlement. She added, “That was about fifteen years after the crash; people were still excited over it.”

“Really? It must have been interesting to see how all the theories that were coming out lined up,” Liz said.

Claudia laughed quietly. “Interesting? Well, at times, but mostly, wildly entertaining,” and the two shared a smile. Liz knew just as first hand as did Claudia about the wild theories that were hatched. Some of Claudia’s published articles were about them as she had spoken to some of the theorists for magazine assignments while she was a freelance writer. Liz had read everything her grandmother published, but admittedly, lately reading her collected articles on artifacts from the recent past was easier.

Liz wondered what her grandmother would think if her granddaughter was dating an alien. The statement sounded ridiculous in that context, and though that was what the situation was, in her heart he was so much more.

Liz corrected herself, no, she wasn’t dating him. She caught a glimpse of him coming back across the street through the glass doors at the front of the café.

She looked back at her grandmother, “What was your theory?” Claudia tilted her head, as if puzzling over the question for the first time in a long time. Liz added, “Because your articles about it were pretty impartial.”

“Well, it was for an assignment,” Claudia began, and she sighed, “But there were never enough facts to know what was true and what wasn’t.”

That was all the time she had to say anything about it, though, because Max was coming over to the table then. Liz was on the side of the booth facing the front, but more importantly, she was facing him. Max slid into her side of the booth, and Claudia noticed that she moved to make room for him so naturally. Now Claudia also noticed that he could have sat apart from her so that she could see the fabric of the other side of the booth between them. They were sitting so close that their shoulders were touching. Claudia had met him during one of the first weeks of the summer, and she caught glimpses of him in the Crashdown every so often, but this, however, was the first time that she had ever observed them together.

Max’s eyes were only on Liz. “Guess what?”

She smiled at him, liking how boyish and excited he was at that instant. One of her hands was on the top of the table, but her other hand was in her lap. Max’s was also, and under the table, his hand closed over hers.

“Tell me,” she said, tilting her head to the side.

He grinned at her. “I got a job at the Convention Center.”

“The Convention Center,” she repeated. For a second, her eyes flashed with worry, but she could see how excited he was about this. It mustn’t be dangerous, she thought. When she asked him about it later, he explained to her that there wasn’t any concrete evidence there; it was just another dedicated collector.

At that moment, she went by pure instinct, knowing that if was this excited about it, it must be okay. “That’s great.” She smiled warmly at him.

“Yeah,” he nodded. The look in his eyes as he looked at her lips was anything but chaste. He tore his eyes away from her slowly.

Then as if he suddenly remembered he hadn’t said anything yet, he looked at Claudia and said, “Hello, Mrs. Parker.”

He wasn’t embarrassed for looking at her granddaughter like that, she noticed. Her eyes had been dancing with amusement as she watched them. She could see this young man was clearly infatuated with her bumblebee. It was so wonderful to be witness to this.

“Hello, Max,” she smiled at him, too. “It’s great to have a job, huh?”

“Yeah,” he looked back at Liz. “I think my Mom’s getting tired of me asking for a raise on my allowance,” he joked, prompting Liz to laugh.

Claudia laughed too, but not quite as much. Liz tugged on Max’s arm, and nudged him to let her out of the booth. She had to get back to her shift.

Max looked at the glass of water on the table and gestured to it.

“I haven’t touched it, yet. Go ahead, it’s all yours,” Claudia said.

Max smiled gratefully at her, sipped some of the water and as he put it down, he looked up.

Claudia seemed to be waiting for him to finish so she could say something, and he was right.

“You care a lot for her, don’t you?” she asked.

Faced with such directness, Max answered with the truth, as best as he could vocalize. “I do…I - ”

Claudia sensed he was about to say something he hadn’t even said to her granddaughter yet, so she cut him off with, “She cares a lot for you, too.” She made eye contact with him, and then told him, “Max, a life with regrets isn’t worth living at all.”

Without saying anything else, she flashed him a warm smile, then stood and went to the milkshake machine behind the counter, for the first time in many years, to fix herself a strawberry milkshake. After all, she’d been the one to add the recipe to the menu herself.

* * * * *

Her words left him reeling on the inside, and he knew there was a lot more to what she was saying. He even thought she was seeing something both he and Liz were blind to.

He looked up again, hoping to catch a glimpse of her, but she wasn’t around. He frowned, but when he looked over to the counter where Claudia was making something and chatting with a customer, her eyes flashed to him first, and then to the swinging double doors.

Getting up, he jostled the table as he stood.

He pushed open the double doors and stepped into the darkened backroom. In the main part of the room were several lockers, to his right were the restrooms, and to his left the kitchen. He heard the cook whistling a Bob Marley tune as he flipped burgers.

Max ducked into the shadows a bit, so he could pass the kitchen without being noticed and see if she was in there. It turned out she wasn’t. Instead she came bounding down the stairs behind him, and when Max turned around, he was just as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

Her cheeks were flushed. “I was looking for a hair tie. The uh, little boy out there, managed to get the one I had off of my wrist.”

He had noticed that her hair was down today. “It looks nice,” he told her gently. Max ran his fingers over her hair, from the sideburns by her face, to the ends that fanned out over her shoulder. “You could leave it down,” he suggested.

She was aware that he was still touching her, but she swallowed and said quietly, “What’s up?”

As soon as he was no longer touching her, she wriggled away from him, but not before teasing him, “You know, it’s employees only back here.”

When she turned around to face him again, her back was to the wall. She looked up into his eyes, which were shining, and to fill the quiet that seemed to have come down on them, “What are you doing back here?”

He came closer to her until she had to look up to see him. Her breathing slowed, as did his, and instead of questions, their breaths, soft and audible, filled the room. Liz’s body stilled, and then she reached out her hand to trace it down the front of his t-shirt. She could feel his chest under her hand. When she passed over his heart, it thumped wildly under her palm. Then she brought her hand back up to his chest when she felt his belt under her hands. She went back to his heart. She didn’t have any more questions, but she felt she had to tell him what they both knew. “Max, we can’t do this,” she whispered.

He chanced his whole friendship with her by listening to the obvious sensuality in her voice and responding to it. She closed her eyes when his hand brushed over her cheek. That was perhaps all it took because she dipped her head so that his palm cradled her head.

“Max,” she whispered, and he smiled when that’s all she said. It showed that he was affecting her when she’d been hiding it all of these months. He threaded his fingers through her soft curls. Her hair felt really soft and warm in his hands and against his skin. Then he went over her face with his hands, until he reached her lips.

Her chest and her face moved softly with each breath that she took and finally she lifted her eyes to look at him. She knew she shouldn’t have because once she did, her eyes fell into the soft warmth of his and she felt the inside of her body curl and glow from their mutual connection – his eyes locked with hers, his hands on her, her hands on him; she had thought she would never be this close to him again. He let his thumb go over her lower lip, pressing the pad of his finger against her mouth. He touched her mouth so softly, and then her lips gave under his touch. She started applying soft little kisses to his thumb. He said her name quietly in her ear. It wasn’t as if he needed any more permission from what he would do next because here she was still touching and holding him.

The first touch of their mouths was so soft and light. Both could remember what it was like from before, but here they were again, tentative and uncertain. They let their lips get reacquainted as their kisses became more exploring and generous.

They relished the contact of the other’s lips. It felt like forever as they pressed their lips together. At the same time, both were acutely aware that it was not enough since it had been so long since they’d opened their hearts to each other like this. When she parted her lips, he slipped his tongue into her mouth and found hers easily. Liz wrapped her hands around Max, so happy to feel him again. He pulled her closer to him, so that her heart was beating against his chest. The kiss deepened and they pulled away from each other at the same time moments later, heady with not breathing in oxygen. If she could though, Liz would try and live on Max alone; breathing him in felt so right. He still held her, and a second later, he cupped her face and applied soft, wet kisses to her lips.

When they stopped again, she hugged him close. To both it felt like they had found their way back to each other.

TBC...

[DreamerLaure]

Hey guys! I'm so sorry I'm late I've had a crazy weekend. The cord under our water heater caught on fire I didn't even know that was possible! Apparently it needs to be replaced

As always, thank you so much for the feedback!


clueless Thank you! I'm glad they kissed too Now wouldn't you rather have a really good ending than this not being finished

Rowedog Lol you used happy 3 times; I'm glad you're happy with how their relationship is progressing And your ominous stirrings are spot on as always

Flamehair Thank you! I'm glad you like Claudia

JBehr's Chica Thank you! I know...why isn't he real! I'd do overtime, holidays, and everything else if he were

begonia9508 I love the way it goes too

Natalie36 LOL yes

guelbebek Thank you! I'm glad it came in handy I won't say how many parts are left until I'm sure, but we are more than halfway through

LoveisForever I know, *finally*

thetvgeneral Steph! Where have you been? *lol* Thanks for joining the story. You're coming in at a really good spot

clueless When you were checking in, I was writing I was being good

Chapter 20

Diane leaned on the frame of Max’s door, and watched her son. He was getting ready for a date with Liz, and even though she had pointed out that it wasn’t as if they hadn’t dated before, Max was still nervous about tonight. When he called her, she was ironing the dress she would wear later that evening. Not only was Max going out; so were Diane and Philip, and the house would be empty on the Saturday evening. She was tempted to mention a rule that Max was probably more than conscious of, that he couldn’t be alone in the house with her but seeing him get ready for this evening made her doubt that instinct. Max leaned in to the mirror for a second to get a closer shave under his chin, and she smiled. It had been hard for him to identify with their family as his own too when he was younger, and she still saw traces of Max’s reluctance to accept Philip and Diane as his parents.

Still, it was moments like these when an innocent gesture like trying to get the closest shave possible that Max reminded her of another Evans man from just that morning who had done the exact same thing. She wondered if Max realized how alike he and Philip were. He may not be his real father and she wasn’t his real mother, but it had always been her hope that he would accept them. She could see it in his eyes though that he thought there was more. At times that it hurt for her to realize that not only did he want more and that someday he might find it, but also that one day Diane and Philip would be replaced by his real parents.

What kind of parents would leave their two kids on the side of a road in the middle of the night in the middle of the nowhere? Where were they now? Why had they never tried to find their kids? Questions like these had haunted Diane those first few nights, but it all seemed to fade away much to her relief each time she saw her kids.

Max turned on the faucet and then put away the razor. He came out of the bathroom, slightly surprised that his mom was there already. He reached for two button down shirts that were laid out on his bed and held them up for her.

Diane smiled. “Max, is this what you asked me in here for?”

Max blushed, but then he managed, “I’m not sure which one to pick.”

Diane nodded, deciding to play along. “Yeah, it’s a difficult decision.”

Max looked between the two shirts, as if really contemplating it, and Diane added, “There’s so much to factor in, and, what with hunter green and navy blue being so different…”

Max frowned as he looked up. “Mom,” he sighed.

“Navy blue,” Diane said.

“What if she’s wearing jeans?” Max asked, suddenly thinking that it might be awful if he had broken some cardinal rule.

“What if she’s not,” Diane offered and Max visibly relaxed. “Not knowing what she’s going to wear is half the fun, and you’re supposed to wear what you want to wear.” Diane smiled because he still looked disbelieving, but she knew it was something he would have to come to terms with on his own. He would have to decide whether or not he would take her advice.

She was just turning to leave his room when he spoke up. “I’m going with white,” he said, sounding decisive. Diane saw him holding up a shirt he had probably narrowed out of the running a long time ago and she smiled. “Good choice.”

* * * * *

Liz reached for her mascara, humming the song she woke up to that morning on the radio under her breath. From her waist she leaned over so she could have an unobstructed view of the mirror. Then she held the wand under her eyes steadily and coated her eyelashes in a gentle up and down motion.

As she put down the mascara, her hand skimmed past the unlidded pot of the coconut-scented lotion she liked to use during the summer and the entire thing spilled over. Sighing she reached for a towel to clean it up, and bit her lip in frustration. The towel could be washed later, but even after she turned over the lotion container, she realized that she couldn’t use any of it now. Most of it had spilled out, and what was left wasn’t nearly enough for her to use. Liz gingerly put the container back on the dresser before facing herself in the mirror. What was she going to do now?

She could hear Max pull up to the side of the Crashdown Café in the alley. The window in her bedroom was wide open, and even though Max’s jeep was fairly new, she knew the sound of it so well already. Max hadn’t brought the jeep up to the Northwestern campus with him after Christmas, opting instead to take a flight back to school. His parents’ garage had housed his jeep for the better part of the year, and now that he was back in Roswell he was in it all the time. Most of the time she happened to be with him.

The first time he took her out was the day he came into the Crashdown and they had nearly kissed after she managed to get out of her shift. So many thoughts had been running through her mind as they stood inches apart, his fingers softly running over her skin. For the briefest second she had enjoyed their nearness, but when she felt his breath falling on the skin by her neck then by her ear, her intuition kicked back in and she remembered all the reasons why they couldn’t.

Then he fumbled with an excuse as to why he had a hammer in his car, and she had teased lightly that if he were considering becoming a lumberjack, he ought to tell her before he started packing. That first drive was nice. He drove them to the shopping boulevard that bordered the park on Third Street, and they had lunch at the sandwich shop.

As the sun was crawling down the New Mexico skyline heading to another part of the world, Max and Liz’s conversation started to dwindle, both realizing their afternoon was also coming to an end. When he dropped her off, Max drove the jeep into the alley. The Parker apartment that was over the Crashdown could be entered from the backroom of the café. When he pulled up to the back door, it appeared that neither Max nor Liz wanted the night to end right then. She had actually been the one to suggest that they do this again, and she had also been the one to initiate their hug.

Each time after they went driving, Max always dropped her off behind the Crashdown, and each night Max and Liz talked while they were parked there for a little bit longer. Liz’s parents thought they were dating, but it was only Claudia who was privy to the complete ins and outs of the relationship, whether by asking Liz directly or by observing them. Liz thought those weren’t dates, and she knew Max didn’t think of it like that either. Tonight was though, and it felt like it marked something big for them.

Those other nights she hadn’t thought about what she was going to wear not only while she was standing in front of her closet but also while he had been asking. For about seven seconds while Max was telling her about his plans for Saturday and working up the nerve to ask her out, Liz had been thinking about what she was going to wear. Well, first she had picked up on how nervous he was.

They were parked outside of her house after yet another great evening. Their afternoons were starting to stretch into the nights, and they worked around his shifts and hers to find days that were the best for the both of them. On Mondays and Wednesdays when he worked until twelve, he would drive over to the Crashdown when he was done to pick her up. They ended Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays with ice cream at five, and he’d drop her off before her shift would start at seven. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she worked in the mornings, and since he had those days off, that’s when they would spend the most time together. He started talking about the upcoming weekend and how his parents were going out to a friend’s house for dinner, and Liz just listened, already thinking about how her father was going to challenge her grandmother to another poker match.

“And I know we usually don’t hang out on Saturdays,” he said, after coming off of a long explanation about his parents being with the neighbor’s. She could tell from how long it took him to get to the heart of it that he was nervous, and when Saturday came out of his mouth, she knew what he was getting to. She started thinking about what it would mean if they started dating again. It was one thing to kiss him and lose herself in the kiss. That she could chalk up to being lost in the moment, and that had been happening a lot lately.

After that explosive kiss in the backroom of the café, Max and Liz spoke, but they skimmed over the surface. She hadn’t gotten much in edgewise that afternoon, what with him nibbling the underside of her jaw like he’d been deprived of it for so long (which was only three months!). He was addicted to her and she loved every minute of it.

He pressed her against the brick wall of the guitar shop two blocks away from the ice cream store the next morning when he was supposed to be doing something else entirely. Breathlessly in between kisses she whined, “You said there was ice cream on my face,” to which he responded, “It’s not gone yet.” He hadn’t untangled his fingers from her hair and she hadn’t loosened her grip on his t-shirt until ten minutes later. Then he had announced, “All done.”

And Max and Liz went around town in the weeks that followed, hiding in plain sight – behind stores, in his car, in the shade of big trees in the park – whenever they had to kiss the other. In truth, in the three weeks after their first kiss in months, whenever they hung out, it was different. While she was completely at ease with the situation, her heart would be racing in those moments before their lips met.

She never worried much about what she wore around him because Max was one of the guys her grandmother had always promised was out there; he was one of the guys who liked you for you, a rarity. Yet, she was already thinking about how many ways she could literally take his breath away on Saturday. She liked that he reacted to her so strongly.

“Liz, what I’m saying…” is what pulled Liz back out of her thoughts. She had his hand in hers and she vaguely realized that while he had been talking, she had been making small circles in his palm, probably making him even more nervous.

She smiled an alluring smile, one that was both gentle and flirtatious. “Yeah?”

Max knew that smile. He knew it all too well by now, and it wasn’t helping him at all this time. He nervously hedged, “If you’re not doing anything on Saturday, and I’m not, maybe we could go out…together.”

Liz knew there was no reason for either of them to be nervous, but she knew as much as he did that this time was different. “Max, are you asking me out on a date?”

He smiled. “I am,” he told her.

She fingered the button on his shirt before leaning in to kiss his neck. He had one hand around her waist and the other was sliding up her back.

“If it helps, I’m going to say yes.”

“W-w-would,” Max started, but he was finding it hard to speak much less breathe right now. Liz had found the lever with her one free hand and eased his seat back a few inches, making him fall back into his seat. Max jumped at the sudden motion, but he liked when she moved so she was sitting in his chair too. He wrapped his arms around her waist before making his voice more authoritative. “Would you like to go out with me on Saturday night?”

“Mmm-hmm, I can’t.”

Max dodged when she brought her head away from his neck. “What? I thought you – ”

“I’m going out with this guy, but I’m not too sure if I like him yet.” She sat up on his lap upright now before smiling impishly at him, “but I’ll let you know how it works out.”

On Saturday Liz blocked out an hour for going through her closet after her shower. She had barely begun when she found a sundress that had been long forgotten. The print wasn’t faded yet, but she could remember buying it when she was sixteen and that she had also never gotten around to wearing it. The fabric was light and colorful, and somehow she just knew it would be perfect for tonight. She paired it with red wedges and an open weave crocheted red sweater.

If only she could add coconut lotion, then she’d be all set for tonight. The doorbell rang as she moved to get her purse, and she could overhear her Dad answer it and welcome Max inside. As Liz was turning around to leave her room, she saw something else that had been forgotten over the years by the corner edge of her dresser. Without a moment’s hesitation, she pumped some of it into her hands, and dusted the lotion onto her legs, arms, and on one particular spot behind her ear.

* * * * *

“Hi, Mr. Parker,” Max said as soon as the door answered, barely allowing the door to swing open without the words tumbling out. Mr. Parker blinked twice at the young man, a little stunned by the rushed greeting. Max swallowed uncomfortably when for a quiet five seconds he seemed to be appraising him warily.

“Come on in,” Mr. Parker finally said and he stepped aside so Max could come in.

Liz’s descriptions of Saturdays nights during the summer at her house fit what Max saw next perfectly. Her mother and her grandmother were seated at opposite ends of the table, and there was one empty chair back where Jeff had been sitting. Her mother laid her cards face down on the table and looked up at Max with a gentle smile. Liz’s grandmother’s smile was more genuine, but she never let her cards touch the table.

“Hey, Max. It’s so good to see you,” Claudia told him.

Max said, “It’s good to see you, too.”

“I think Liz is still in her room, I could go – ” Nancy, Liz’s mother, began to offer, just as Max was stepping forward.

Max produced a small cluster of sunflowers, which he had been holding out of sight behind his back. “These are for you,” he said.

Her smile was admiring as she accepted them. “Thank you, Max.” She had a really good feeling about this boy also. She’d been unconvinced when Claudia told her about him, but she couldn’t also recall any conversation that hadn’t been pleasant with the Evans boy.

Jeff Parker, however, didn’t trust him. He was a teenage boy, and who knows where he’d be taking his daughter tonight.

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask where they were going when Claudia cleared her throat all the while glaring at him meaningfully. How did she do that? How did she always know what he was about to say? But Jeff followed her lead, biting his cheek, and asking nothing. Still…what exactly was a surprise?

That’s the only thing he had gotten out of his own daughter when she casually mentioned the date she had on ‘Saturday.’ Even the way she had said that made Jeff extremely wary. True she’d been growing up for years, but this summer, he was even more painfully aware of it. Every night that she went out with Max, he was concerned, especially once he found out that they were more than friends. He couldn’t honestly recall his daughter dating during high school, something he’d been more than thankful for at the time. Of course there had been Alex, but the expression in her eyes right before she went out with him didn’t hold a candle to what Jeff saw every night she had plans with Max. He almost regretted having to go through this now…this surprise though. It was really getting to Jeff. Once Liz mentioned she was going out on Saturday, he had instantly asked where they were going. His daughter had suddenly become evasive, a dreamy smile all of her own infecting not only her mouth but her eyes too as she said, “It’s a surprise.” Later that Saturday night when Liz doesn’t come home in time for her midnight curfew and Jeff is tipsy off of his Irish coffee, his wife will say that Liz can let herself in and that curfews don’t really count in the summer. When Nancy takes his cards out of his hands and gently guides him to their bedroom, that night Jeff will say, “What exactly is a surprise?”

He can’t ask her now though. When his daughter told him that she was going out with Max Evans and that it was a surprise, Jeff had taken in that innocent and bright look on her face. He’d never seen it before. He didn’t know what to call it. Claudia was certain that it was love, and Nancy thought Liz was only falling, but what Jeff did know is that he was happy that she was happy. That was another reason that he didn’t nail Max to a two by four and demand where he was taking his daughter. He could let one night go.

As Liz stepped into the living room, a hush fell over the room. Nancy was smiling because Liz was wearing the sweater she knitted her five years ago. She always thought Liz didn’t like it because she’d never seen her wear it before. This was the same sweater Liz had just found in her closet, without remembering its story. So, first Liz smiled at her mother thinking her mom was possibly just as excited as she was.

Next Liz’s eyes fell on her grandmother’s smiling face. As she looked at her, she was remembering every conversation about love they’d ever had and how it always ended with, Follow your heart, wherever it may take you.

When she looked at her father, what she saw was a mix of pride and something Liz couldn’t name. She returned his smile easily though. He seemed happy, but of course, how can a daughter ever know the million of thoughts that are running through a father’s mind? There are ones that make him want to hug her and never let her leave the house, and there are others that make him want to question the guy who’s taking her out. But, what was going through Jeff’s mind at that instant were the rarest thoughts of all, that his daughter looked really happy. It’s the best present any parent can ever ask for.

When Liz’s eyes finally made their way to Max, who was a little obstructed by her father, her heart sped up as she watched his eyes travel from her eyes to her hips and back again. “You look beautiful, Liz,” he told her.

“Thank you,” she said shyly.

“Be safe,” Claudia said as the two made their way to the door, Liz’s hand entwined in his. Liz looked back at her family and smiled. It looked as if her father was about to say something else because he opened and closed his mouth twice before looking between Claudia and Liz. Finally, he settled on nodding his head jerkily. “Be safe,” he said too.

Max escorted Liz outside and into the hallway, and then down to the jeep. He helped her in first and then went around to the driver’s side. When he was sitting beside her, she smiled at him, ready for what the night would hold. She’d been expecting him to kiss her, but like almost every other time, this kiss was different. His breath lingered by her ear after he brushed his lips over hers and then over her cheek. She had her hands on his chest and she ran her hands down his chest slowly while he took in her nearness.

A few seconds later, he wasn’t moving away from her. Instead his breath was falling on the side of her face and on her neck. “What?” she asked when he started nuzzling her neck.

He brought his lips down on hers, the pressure light but demanding and she opened her mouth easily, their mouths speaking their own language, both of them knowing exactly what the other wanted. When they broke apart, panting, under the clear night sky, he told her, “You smell like strawberries.”

She smiled. She had put the strawberry scented lotion behind her ear as well, not knowing it would literally drive him wild. It was more out of habit, but from the ten watt smile that came onto her face at his words and from the way he leaned in to kiss her again, it seemed her mind was already made – this was definitely one habit she was going to keep.

* * * * *

Later that night, Liz didn’t let Max get away with just kissing her good night in the car. She held his hand and made him walk her all the way to her front door, a full hundred feet away.

“And that was so perfect,” she said, in between the quick kisses she delivered to his mouth.

“It seemed like a pretty cool convention,” he admitted. Max didn’t think that science would ever interest him again after the brief two weeks they had covered electricity in his physics class during high school. That had been interesting, but chemistry and biology, those had never been his subjects. But, he knew Liz liked it all, and when he read about an upcoming “Sciences of Tomorrow” convention that was being held in town all weekend, he also knew instinctively, that it was something that Liz would like. It turned out that she hadn’t heard about it yet, when he first passed her the newspaper with the article. She had gotten really excited about it and had started talking in depth about one of the visiting scientists. He had asked, subtly, if she was going to try and make the convention, but Liz had balked, saying the tickets were too expensive.

Opening night tickets were even more expensive, and Max had been worrying about the price while he was at work one afternoon just when Milton mentioned the Convention to him. Max had forgotten that ufology was a science too, and Milton had said something along the lines of how could he have forgotten that. Milton also mentioned that he had two extra tickets for opening night available for a really good employee. Max knew how much going to this would mean to Liz, and he accepted the tickets.

She loved it. All throughout the forum, to the presentations, she had been attentive and excited, grabbing his hand or leaning in conspiratorially to explain something to him. He’d barely been listening to her when she leaned in like that, but he listened to her voice. He liked how even though she was talking softly, her voice was so animated.

When the Science Convention ended, Max and Liz walked around the front yard, lingering by the fountain.

Liz looked into the fountain at the crowd of coins at the bottom. She turned to him impulsively. “Do you want to make a wish, Max?”

“I don’t have any coins,” he said, blushing slightly. Why didn’t he think to bring any coins?

Her smile dimmed momentarily, but then she held his hand in hers. “We can pretend, and make a wish anyway.”

She closed her eyes, and a few seconds later, she pretended to toss a coin over her shoulder. Then she turned to Max and smiled, “Your turn.”

“Aren’t you going to tell me what you wished for?”

“No, and you don’t have to tell me.”

Max nodded, this new information making him feel freer. He took a longer time than she did thinking about his wish, but once it was fully formed in his head, he pretended to throw a coin over his shoulder too.

They spent the rest of the evening spending time by the fountain talking, and when Max finally looked at his watch, he realized how late it was. It was already midnight, and he was supposed to have brought her back sooner.

When they were outside of her door, he held her waist as he gave her one more lingering kiss.

“You’re going to have to top this on the next date,” she teased.

“Oh, no. Really? I thought that was the third date.”

Liz scrunched her face in earnest concentration and then she smiled. “You’re probably right. Oh, well. I guess I can wait.”

They let each other go slowly piece-by-piece like they did every night. First they untangled their hands and then they put distance between each other. Max couldn’t resist touching her cheek once more before he left. “Good night,” he said finally, after a few seconds of just touching her. She felt the absence of his touch instantly, and though it ached she managed a smile as he left. Saying goodbye at the end of the night was getting harder and harder.